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Child  labor 


CONTENTS 

POVERTY  AND    PARENTAL    DEPENDENCE   AS   AN    OBSTACLE    To'^*''* 

CHILD  LABOR    REFORM i 

Homer  Folks. 

THE  AWAKENING  OF  THE  SOUTH  AGAINST  CHILD    LABOR 9 

A.  J.   McKelway. 
SOME  OF  THE  ULTIMATE  PHYSICAL    EFFECTS    OF    PREMATURE 

TOIL 19 

Albert  H.   F'reibero. 

CHILD  LABOR  IN  THE  SOFT  COAL    MINES 26 

Owen   R.   Love  joy. 
THE  EXTENT  OF  CHILD  LABOR  IN  THE    ANTHRACITE  COAL  IN- 
DUSTRY     35 

Owen  R.   Lovejoy. 
OBSTACLES  TO  THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF  CHILD  LABOR   LEGISLA- 
TION   .      .  50 

Florence   Kelley. 
NATIONAL     PROTECTION  FOR    CHILDREN 57 

JANE    AdDAMS. 

THE  CniLD  LABOR  LAWS  OF  THE    OHIO    VALLEY 61 

J.   H.   Morgan. 
THE    CHILD    LABOR    SITUATION    IN  OHIO   AND  BORDER  STATES  71 

Wallace   E.   Miller. 
CHILDREN  IN  THE  GLASS  WORKS  OF  ILLINOIS 7  7 

Harriet  Van   der   Vaart. 
CHILD  LABOR  AND  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 84 

Nathan  C.   Schaeffer. 
THE  VALUE  OF  PUBLICITY  IN  REFORM 87 

Arthir  T.   Vance. 
THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF  CHILD  LABOR  LEGISLATION  IN  ILLINOIS  93 

Edgar  T.   Davies. 
CHILD  LABOR  AND  THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS 104 

Samlel  McCune   Lindsay. 
CHILD  LABOR  AND  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS    no 

Charles  W.   Dabney. 
CHILD  LABOR  AND  THE  NATION    115 

Albert  J.   Beveridge. 
THE  DIFFICULTIES  OF  A  FACTORY  INSPECTOR 125 

Edgar  T.  Davies. 
THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF   CHILD    LABOR  LEGISLATION 133 

Starr  Cadwallader. 
THE  ATTITUDE  OF  SOCIETY  TOWARD  THE  CHILD  AS  AN  INDEX 
OF  CIVILIZATION 135 

Felix   Adler. 
REPORTS  FROM  STATE  AND  LOCAL  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEES 
AND  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUES 142 


Hltje  Am^nrau  AraiFmy  nf  ^nUtiral  anJi  Siirtal  ^mmt 

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POVERTY  AND  PARENTAL  DEPENDENCE  AS  AN 
OBSTACLE  TO  CHILD  LABOR  REFORM 


By  Homer  Folks, 
Vice-Chairman  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  New  York. 


The  history  of  efforts  for  child  labor  legislation  shows  that 
they  usually  pass  through  three  stages  before  reaching  final  success. 
When  an  agitation  for  a  child  labor  law  is  started  the  first  objection 
raised  to  it  is  that  there  are  no  children  employed,  or  not  at  least 
any  considerable  number.  After  good  people  have  gone  to  the 
mines  and  factories  and  have  counted  the  children,  and  have  gath- 
ered undeniable  data  disproving  that  statement,  the  next  objection 
that  is  brought  forward  is  that  while  there  may  be  some  children 
employed,  after  all  such  employment  is  a  good  thing  for  the  chil- 
dren, and  some  very  eminent  men  are  named  as  having  been 
employed  in  their  childhood,  by  reason  of  which  they  became  very 
distinguished  when  grown  up. 

After  further  research  as  to  the  evil  effects  of  child  labor,  such 
as  has  been  made  at  great  length  by  our  two  assistant  secretaries, 
and  by  many  others,  and  after  it  has  demonstrated  beyond  question 
that  this  employment  of  children  is  bad  for  the  children,  there  still 
remains  one  stronghold  to  be  taken.  It  is  then  said :  Well,  yes,  there 
are  some  children  employed,  and  that  perhaps  it  is  not  altogether 
exactly  what  one  would  regard  as  ideal,  but  nevertheless  the  earn- 
ings of  these  children  are  absolutely  necessary  for  the  maintenance 
of  their  families.  Many  of  them,  it  is  said,  are  the  children  of 
widows.  In  other  cases  their  fathers  have  deserted  or  are  ill,  and, 
except  for  the  earnings  of  these  children,  the  families  would  suffer 
and  might  starve. 

That  is  the  final  stronghold  to  be  captured  by  the  friends  of 
progressive  legislation,  not  only  for  the  restriction  of  child  labor,  but 
also  for  compulsory  scnool  attendance  and  for  the  exclusion  of  chil- 
dren   from   certain    occupations   dangerous   to   health   or   morals. 

(i) 


2  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

What  was  said  by  the  friends  of  such  legislation  until  quite  recently 
was  substantially  this,  that  we  did  not  believe  that  there  were  many 
children  whose  earnings  were  really  needed  by  their  families ; 
that  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  children  could  be  the  children  of 
widows;  that  only  a  small  proportion  of  those  widows  were  depen- 
dent upon  the  earnings  of  their  children,  and  that  in  so  far  as  it 
might  be  true  that  the  earnings  of  the  children  were  needed  by  their 
families,  it  was,  in  our  opinion,  a  great  deal  better  that  their  income 
should  be  supplemented  from  some  other  source,  and,  furthermore, 
that  it  was  our  conviction  that  other  resources  would  be  at  hand 
if  those  earnings  were  stopped.  That  was  a  word  of  hope  and 
of  confidence,  and  of  conviction  indeed,  but  it  was  not  at  that  time 
founded  on  actual  experience. 

The  task  devolved  upon  me  is  to  set  forth  the  results  of  several 
years  of  actual  experience  in  this  direction,  and  if  I  speak  with 
comparatively  little  first  hand  knowledge  of  child  labor  legislation 
and  problems,  I  can  speak  with  sixteen  years  of  uninterrupted 
experience  in  the  study  and  actual  administration  of  charity. 

During  the  past  three  years  child  labor  legislation  has  been 
adopted  in  many  of  the  states  of  the  Union,  and  those  who  have 
been  most  active  in  procuring  that  legislation  have  taken  up  in 
earnest  the  task  of  providing  supplementary  incomes,  when  needed, 
to  replace  the  earnings  of  children  excluded  from  employment  by 
the  new  legislation.  We  now  have  back  of  us  several  years  of  obser- 
vation and  experience  of  the  actual  facts  as  they  exist,  and  we  can 
now  put  the  hope  that  we  expressed  a  few  years  before  to  the 
test  of  practical  application. 

In  New  York  City  the  local  child  labor  committee  some  fifteen 
months  ago  took  this  ground,  that  whenever  the  child  labor  law 
made  it  impossible  for  any  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  to  be 
employed,  if  his  previous  earnings  were  a  necessary  element  in  the 
family  income,  it  would  give  to  that  family,  through  the  child,  what 
it  called  a  scholarship — a  sum  of  money  equal,  as  nearly  as  could 
be  ascertained — to  the  amount  the  child  would  have  earned,  that  is 
to  say,  from  one  to  three  dollars  per  week. 

An  individual  member  of  that  committee  very  generously  offered 
to  contribute  the  sum  of  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  or 
such  sum  not  exceeding  that  amount  as  might  be  necessary  to 


Obstacles  to  Child  Labor  Reform  3 

provide  these  scholarships.  Notice  of  this  offer  was  sent  to  all  the 
superintendents  and  principals  of  the  public  schools,  to  the  State 
Labor  Department,  charitable  societies,  truant  officers,  settlement 
workers  and  social  agencies  generally. 

As  the  result  of  that  experiment,  490  applications  for  scholar- 
ships were  received  from  October  i,  1905,  to  December  15,  1906, 
Of  these,  160  have  been  referred  elsewhere,  because  the  children  were 
not  of  the  age  at  which  they  could  have  been  employed  previously, 
that  is  to  say,  they  were  over  fourteen,  or  were  under  twelve,  and 
were  not  within  the  provisions  of  the  recently  enacted  law.  Of 
the  remaining  330  applications  coming  within  the  age  limits,  95 
scholarships  have  been  granted,  that  is  a  little  less  than  30  per  cent. 
Bear  in  mind  that  these  figures  relate  to  the  entire  City  of  New 
York,  with  its  population  in  round  numbers  of  4,250,000  of 
people,  and  that  with  all  the  publicity  attached  to  this  offer,  and  in 
the  space  of  nearly  fifteen  months,  only  95  cases  have  been  found 
in  which  these  scholarships  should  be  given. 

These  scholarships  are  adjusted  to  the  probable  amount  of 
the  child's  earnings,  ranging  from  $1  to  $3  per  week,  and  the  total 
present  outlay  per  month  is  at  the  rate  of  $5,000  per  year,  that  is 
to  say,  it  is  about  $100  per  week.  It  seems  possible  that  in  the 
course  of  another  year  there  may  be  some  further  increase,  although 
the  number  is  very  nearly  stationary  at  present.  It  seems  to  be  well 
within  the  mark  to  say  that  $10,000  at  the  very  most  will  meet  all 
the  deficiencies  that  arise  from  the  discontinuance  of  the  employ- 
ment of  children  by  the  new  law,  in  so  far  as  such  income  is  a 
necessary  part  of  the  living  expenses  of  the  families.  Here,  as  in 
nearly  all  the  other  cities  reporting,  the  scholarship  continues  until 
the  child  reaches  the  age  of  legal  employment,  unless  the  need  there- 
for ceases  at  an  earlier  date. 

I  have  been  struck,  in  examining  the  reports  which  have  been 
received  by  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  from  each  of  the 
larger  cities  of  the  country,  on  this  question,  to  find  the  very  differ- 
ent conditions  that  seem  to  exist  in  different  cities.  In  Chicago,  for 
instance,  where  a  similar  plan  has  been  in  operation,  under  the 
joint  auspices  of  the  Consumers'  League  and  the  Bureau  of  Chari- 
ties, the  total  number  of  scholarships  awarded  during  a  period  of 
three  years  is  but  fifteen.     Only  a  small  percentage  of  those  who 


4  The  AruiaJs  of  the  American  Academy 

filed  applications  for  scholarships  are  found  to  be  actually  in  need. 
The  scholarships  are  largely  provided  by  the  women's  clubs,  though 
the  investigations  of  the  families  and  their  oversight  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  Bureau  of  Charities.  The  scholarship  is  usually  $3  per  week. 
In  Philadelphia,  the  Public  Education  Association  and  Child 
Labor  Committee  have  established  the  same  plan,  and  there  during 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1906,  the  number  of  scholarships  granted 
has  been  twenty-eight — about  one-fifth  of  the  total  number  of  appli- 
cants. There  also  the  investigation  of  the  family  is  by  the  Charity 
Organization  Society.  The  scholarships,  ranging  in  amount  from 
75  cents  to  $4  per  week,  are  adjusted,  not  on  the  basis  of  the 
probable  earnings  of  the  child  if  employed,  but  on  the  actual  need  of 
the  family. 

In  St.  Louis  there  is  a  compulsory  school  attendance  law  from 
which  children  may  be  excused,  lawfully,  on  the  ground  of  extreme 
poverty.  The  cases  that  have  been  so  excused  were  inquired  into 
recently  as  to  the  merits  of  the  excuse,  and  it  is  reported  (July, 
1906)  that  so  far  as  the  investigation  had  gone  it  indicated  that 
not  more  than  fifty  full  term  exemptions  were  granted  during  the 
past  year,  and  judging  by  the  results  so  far  secured  about  twenty 
of  these  would  prove  to  be  cases  calling  for  material  assistance  if 
the  children  attended  school,  and  that  the  total  expenditure  for 
such  aid  would  probably  be  covered  by  the  sum  of  $1,000  per  year. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Missouri  Child  Labor  Committee  reports :  "In 
the  case  of  parents  claiming  permanent  or  long-term  exemptions 
in  order  that  their  children  might  work  in  stores  or  factories,  a 
successful  effort  is  being  made  this  year  in  St.  Louis  to  eliminate 
all  such  child  labor  by  providing  scholarships  for  children  recom- 
mended for  exemption  by  the  truant  officer.  The  chairman  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Children's  Protective  Alliance,  Mr. 
W.  O.  Nelson,  has  proposed  to  the  women's  clubs  of  the  city  to 
share  equally  with  them  the  expense  of  such  scholarships;  and 
pending  action  by  the  women's  clubs,  Mr.  Nelson  is  personally 
providing  for  all  these  cases,  after  they  have  been  reported  on  by 
the  truant  officer  and  carefully  investigated  by  the  agents  of  the 
St.  Louis  Provident  Association.  The  cases,  of  course,  accumulate 
gradually  through  the  year  as  the  truant  officers  continue  their 
work,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  at  this  date  how  many  will 
present  themselves  per  annum.     I  have  not  Mr.  Nelson's  authority 


Obstacles  to  Child  Labor  Reform  5 

to  say  what  the  expense  involved  has  thus  far  been.  But  a  rough 
preliminary  investigation  of  last  year's  long-term  exemption  cases 
indicated  that  the  number  of  children  properly  entitled  to  scholar- 
ships would  certainly  not  exceed  fifty,  and  would  probably  be  less 
than  thirty.  Something  over  a  third  of  the  cases  approved  for 
exemption  by  the  attendance  office  are  rejected  after  the  Provident 
Association's  investigation." 

In  Pittsl)urg,  during  the  year  ending  June  30,  1906,  the  number 
of  scholarships  granted  was  three,  the  amount  being  $2  per  week 
in  each  case. 

The  reply  from  Boston  is,  to  my  mind,  very  significant.  I  will 
quote  one  or  two  sentences:  "Child  labor  has  not  been  an  issue  in 
Massachusetts  for  many  years.  In  the  statutes  of  1880  practically 
no  employment  of  children  under  fourteen  was  permitted  in  school 
hours.  There  has  been,  therefore,  in  those  who  are  dependents,  no 
new  problem  to  meet  by  keeping  the  children  in  school  until  four- 
teen, and  there  are  no  special  scholarship  funds  or  societies  for  such 
children.  .  .  .  The  public  outdoor  relief,  and  the  private 
charitable  societies  have  always  worked  with  the  enforcement  of 
the  child  labor  law  in  mind."  That  is  to  say,  the  standards  of  relief, 
both  on  the  part  of  the  public  authorities  and  of  the  private  socie- 
ties, have  been  such  as  contemplate  a  full  enforcement  of  the  child 
labor  law ;  so  that  instead  of  receiving  aid  in  the  form  of  scholar- 
ships from  some  newly-established  agency,  the  parents  in  case  of 
need  receive  the  aid  in  the  form  of  relief  either  from  the  public 
officers  or  from  private  societies.  That  appears  to  be  the  state 
of  affairs  in  a  number  of  other  cities.  In  Buffalo,  for  instance,  we 
find  that  the  health  department  sometimes  refers  families  to  the 
Charity  Organization  Society,  where  the  operation  of  the  law  would 
otherwise  seem  likely  to  work  hardship.  The  families  receive  relief 
on  the  usual  plans,  but  without  any  system  of  scholarships. 

In  Minneapolis,  the  Associated  Charities  have  adopted  the  schol- 
arship plan,  and  during  the  year  ending  June  30,  1906,  ten  full 
scholarships  were  granted,  and  in  some  thirty  other  cases  partial 
relief  was  given — a  comparatively  large  number  for  a  city  of  that 
size,  as  compared  with  other  cities.  About  10  per  cent  of  the  ap- 
plications were  approved  for  some  form  of  aid. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  most  of  the  cities,  but  not  in  New 


6  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

York,  the  amount  of  the  scholarship  is  not  based  on  the  probable 
earnings  of  the  child  were  he  employed,  but  on  the  actual  need  of 
the  family,  aiming  to  make  up  the  full  amount  that  the  family 
requires  in  order  to  live  in  accord  with  reasonable  standards. 

The  Associated  Charities  in  Kansas  City  reports  that,  while 
the  scholarship  idea  as  such  has  not  been  developed  there,  that 
society  assists,  from  private  sources,  widows  with  children,  so  that 
the  children  may  attend  the  public  schools  and  need  not  be  employed. 

Such  also  is  the  report  from  Indianapolis,  with  the  further 
statement  that  when  the  recent  truancy  and  factory  laws  were  passed 
it  was  expected  that  there  would  be  a  large  increase  in  the  demand 
upon  the  funds  of  that  society  for  aiding  widows,  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  there  was  but  very  little  increase  of  that  character. 

In  the  City  of  Baltimore,  the  law  has  recently  taken  effect, 
and  a  plan  has  been  adopted  by  which  the  bureau  of  labor  and  sta- 
tistics refers  to  the  Charity  Organization  Society  all  cases  of  ap- 
parent hardship,  most  of  which,  thus  far,  upon  investigation,  have 
been  found  not  to  be  cases  of  actual  need. 

From  Milwaukee,  we  have  the  report  that  there  are  no  schol- 
arships, but  that  the  county  superintendent  of  the  poor  extends  addi- 
tional relief  to  certain  families  when  it  would  otherwise  be  a  hard- 
ship to  require  the  child  to  attend  school.  There  are  several  such 
cases,  and  the  plan  is  resulting  in  better  attendance  in  the  public 
schools. 

The  examination  of  these  reports,  with  a  study  of  the  letters 
accompanying  them,  has  suggested  to  me  several  conclusions,  and 
especially  this  one — and  I  speak  for  myself  only,  and  not  as  repre- 
senting the  views  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  havings 
had  no  opportunity  for  conference  with  them  on  this  subject — that 
this  is  at  bottom  essentially  a  phase  of  the  relief  problem ;  that  it  is 
not  primarily  an  educational  problem  or  a  problem  of  enforcement 
of  law,  but  is  a  relief  problem ;  and  that  all  moneys  given  out  in  the 
form  of  scholarships,  and  under  these  circumstances,  should  be 
given  with  the  same  care  and  with  the  same  adequacy  and  upon  the 
same  principles  as  govern  the  best  relief  work. 

It  is  not  an  exceptional  thing  to  find  that  there  are  new  demands 
upon  relief-giving  societies,  and  that  the  standards  heretofore 
deemed  adequate  are  no  longer  adequate.     It  is  frequently  neces- 


Obstacles  to  Child  Labor  Reform  7 

sary  for  such  agencies  and  for  such  pubHc  officials  to  revise  their 
judgments  as  to  what  constitutes  adequate  relief,  and  this  is,  after 
all,  the  fundamental  thing  in  all  charitable  work.  We  may  have 
been  in  error  sometimes  in  the  past,  and  have  been  superficially  sat- 
isfied in  entering  upon  the  record  of  a  family  that  it  is  "self-sup- 
porting" without  looking  far  enough  ahead,  and  without  consider- 
mg  whether  the  family  is  self-supporting  with  full  justice  to  its 
future,  as  well  as  to  its  present.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the 
family  may  be  self-supporting  now,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
insure  the  fact  that  in  a  very  few  years  it  cannot  possibly  be  self- 
supporting.  The  incipient  consumptive  can  remain  at  work  and 
support  his  family  for  a  considerable  time,  but  with  the  certain 
result  that  at  the  end  of  a  short  time  we  will  have  upon  our  hands  a 
widow  and  a  family  of  children.  We  have  revised  our  standards  of 
relief-giving  in  view  of  our  most  recent  knowledge  of  the  treatment 
of  tuberculosis.  Similarly  a  widow  can  go  out  to  work  by  the  day 
for  six  days  in  the  week,  and  thus  be  ''self-supporting"  and  maintain 
her  family,  but  with  the  certain  result  that  in  a  comparatively  short 
time  her  health  must  give  way  and  we  shall  have  upon  our  hands 
for  an  indefinite  time  a  woman  broken  in  health  and  a  family  of  chil- 
dren. Under  these  circumstances,  the  families  are  not  self-support- 
ing in  any  proper  sense  of  the  term.  Our  conception  of  the  amount 
and  character  of  the  relief  that  should  be  given  must  be  extended 
and  extended  and  again  extended;  and  it  is  a  similar  step  that  we 
must  take  in  applying  our  relief  system  to  families  in  which  there 
are  children  who  would  be  employed  except  for  our  child  labor  laws. 
While  all  this  is  true,  and  while  in  my  opinion  the  scholarship 
is  a  passing  phase  of  the  relief  problem,  it  has  many  tactical  and 
temporary  advantages.  Charity  has  come  to  be  something  of  a 
yellow  dog.  No  one  likes  to  receive  charity;  few  persons  particu- 
larly care  to  be  engaged  in  dispensing  relief.  Institutions  supported 
by  charitable  gifts  always  prefer  to  be  known  under  some  other 
heading.  It  may  be  well,  therefore,  not  to  raise  that  question  for 
the  moment  and  to  disguise  the  relief  under  some  pleasanter  name. 
Furthermore,  of  course,  those  who  are  instrumental  in  securing 
child  labor  legislation  feel,  and  very  properly  so,  a  certain  moral 
responsibility  for  seeing  that  hardship  does  not  result,  even  in  a 
small  degree,  from  the  proposed  legislation.    Therefore,  it  is  entirely 


8  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

proper  and  justifiable — it  is  in  some  ways  desirable — that  they  should 
be  able  to  say  to  the  community  and  to  the  legislators  and  to  the 
public  authorities  that  they  know  of  their  positive  knowledge  that 
the  families  deprived  of  the  earnings  of  their  children  are  not 
suffering;  and  that  as  an  evidence  of  good  faith  they,  from  funds 
collected  themselves,  have  met  the  need. 

There  are  perhaps  many  communities  in  which  relief  work  is 
not  sufficiently  well  informed  and  organized,  or  is  not  sufficiently 
strong  to  meet  this  situation,  and  until  they  can  be  improved — until 
the  relief  agencies,  public  and  private,  can  be  educated  and  strength- 
ened, and  induced  to  adopt  the  larger  view,  it  may  be  wiser  and, 
in  fact,  may  be  highly  important,  that  some  temporary  provision 
of  scholarships  be  made. 

The  important  thing,  however,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
National  Child  Labor  Committee,  is  this,  that  the  experience  of  the 
past  four  years  has  given  us  the  measure  of  the  problem.  It  has 
demonstrated  the  soundness  of  our  earlier  position ;  that  the  number 
of  such  families  needing  relief  is  small;  that  funds  would  be  forth- 
coming to  meet  this  need  ;  that  the  problem  is  an  easily  rhanaged  one ; 
and  tiiat  poverty  and  parental  dependence  should  not  be  an  obstacle 
to  progressive  child  labor  legislation. 


THE  AWAKENING  OF  THE  SOUTH  AGAINST  CHILD 

LABOR 


By  Dr.  A.  J.  McKelway, 
Assistant   Secretary  of   National    Child   Labor   Committee. 


Two  years  ago,  at  the  first  annual  meeting  of  this  committee,  I 
said,  with  reference  to  child  labor  in  the  South:  *Tt  is  only  neces- 
sary that  the  facts  shall  be  carefully  investigated  and  published, 
for  the  demand  to  become  irresistible,  from  the  people  themselves, 
that  an  industry  shall  not  be  built  upon  the  basis  of  child  labor; 
nor  will  it  be  long  before  the  will  of  a  kind-hearted  people  shall 
be  translated  into  humane  laws,  that  we  may  again  present  a  serene 
front  to  civilization." 

Then  followed  a  year  of  defeats  to  the  child  labor  cause  in  the 
South,  in  North  Carolina  and  Florida  and  Georgia  and  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana,  with  no  apparent  advance,  but  rather  a  disastrous 
reaction,  with  the  evil  on  the  increase.  But  at  the  second  annual 
meeting,  with  hope  deferred  but  with  faith  unshaken,  I  said:  "In 
spite  o£  the  ineffectiveness  of  present  laws  and  the  violation  of  sol- 
emn agreements  (not  to  employ  children  under  a  specified  age), 
and  the  utter  absence  of  protective  legislation  in  some  of  the  states, 
I  make  bold  to  say,  because  I  know  my  people  and  love  my  people, 
that  the  South  is  too  kind-hearted  to  allow  this  sacrifice  of  her 
children." 

And  now  it  is  a  proud  moment  of  my  life,  at  this  third  annual 
meeting,  when  I  can  speak  of  the  southern  awakening  against  child 
labor  as  an  accomplished  fact.  Our  committee  is  able  to  report 
four  splendid  victories  for  our  cause :  in  Maryland,  where  Dr.  Lind- 
say's efficient  aid  has  already  been  gratefully  recognized  by  the 
friends  of  the  children;  in  Kentucky,  where  Mr.  Lovejoy's  timely 
intervention,  at  a  critical  moment,  reconciled  conflicting  views  and 
secured  the  enactment  of  the  best  child  labor  law  of  any  southern 

(9) 


10  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

state;  in  Louisiana,  where  the  law  was  amended  in  the  right  direc- 
tion ;  and  in  Georgia,  where  for  the  first  time  a  child  labor  law  has 
been  enacted ;  the  same  legislature  which  had  defeated  what  even  the 
manufacturers  called  "  a  mild  child  labor  bill,"  having  passed  at 
its  second  session,  with  but  two  dissenting  votes  in  the  House 
and  unanimously  in  the  Senate,  a  far  more  advanced  bill,  because 
that  giant  who  rules  America,  who  sometimes  sleeps,  but  who  once 
aroused  is  irresistible,  had  been  awakened — Public  Opinion.  Nor  is 
this  all.  The  Democratic  convention  of  Alabama,  in  nominating 
a  prominent  manufacturer  for  the  office  of  governor,  wrote  child 
labor  reform  in  no  uncertain  language  into  its  party  platform.  From 
North  Carolina  and  from  Tennessee,  from  Florida  and  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana  and  Texas,  from  the  mother  of  states,  old  Virginia, 
and  from  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  southern  sisterhood,  Okla- 
homa, there  come  cheering  reports  of  an  awakened  public  opinion, 
of  an  aroused  public  conscience ;  while  in  South  Carolina  the  manu- 
facturers are  earnestly  and  sincerely  pressing  for  the  enactment  of 
a  compulsory  education  law  which  will  help  to  solve  the  child  labor 
problem.  And  at  a  meeting  only  this  week  in  Kentucky,  where  the 
best  brains  and  blood  of  the  state  were  represented,  among  them  the 
ofiicial  of  a  powerful  manufacturers'  association,  with  representatives 
of  the  labor  unions,  a  state  committee  of  fifty  was  formed,  with  an 
associate  membership  that  may  be  numbered  by  the  hundreds,  to 
amend  and  enforce  the  child  labor  law  of  Kentucky,  and  a  message 
was  sent  from  that  gathering  to  Kentucky's  representatives  in  the 
United  States  Senate  to  urge  the  passage  of  the  child  labor  bills 
now  pending  in  the  National  Congress. 

This  awakening  of  the  South  to  its  social  problems  is  but  a 
part  of  its  awakening  on  every  line  of  human  progress.  And  there 
is  with  it  all  a  new  note  of  nationalism,  sounding  as  clear  as  a 
bugle  amidst  the  strife  of  partisan  politics,  the  clash  of  selfish  inter- 
ests, and  the  dying  groans  of  sectional  prejudice,  and  that  bugle 
note  proclaims  to  willing  ears,  in  the  prophetic  words  of  Ben  Hill, 
of  Georgia :  "We  are  in  the  house  of  our  fathers.  Our  brothers  are 
our  companions." 

Forty  years  ago  the  South  found  itself  with  its  labor  system 
destroyed,  its  transportation  system  annihilated  and  the  flower  of 
its  manhood  under  the  sod.  Its  colleges  which,  while  slightly  fewer 
in  number,  yet  employed  more  professors  and  matriculated  more 


South  Awakening  Against  Child  Labor  li 

students  than  the  colleges  of  the  rest  of  the  nation,  had  their  endow- 
ments swept  away  in  the  universal  flood.  A  whole  generation  of 
students,  who  might  have  enriched  the  world  with  their  contribu- 
tions to  literature  and  science,  were  following  the  plow  to  keep 
starvation  from  destroying  what  battle  had  spared.  Nor  was  this 
all.  There  succeeded  an  era  that  was  worse  than  the  weary  years  of 
the  war.  The  South  had  to  endure  not  only  the  bitterness  of 
defeat  and  the  anguish  of  bereavement,  but  also  the  odium  of 
having  precipitated  one  of  the  costliest  wars,  in  blood  and  treasure, 
that  the  world  has  known,  and  the  additional  odium  of  having  been 
on  the  wrong  side  of  the  issue  developed  by  the  war,  the  perpetu- 
ation of  human  slavery.  It,  moreover,  rested  under  the  suspicion 
that  its  people  did  not  accept  the  results  of  the  war  in  good  faith 
and  could  not  be  trusted  to  deal  fairly  with  the  ex-slaves.  So  the 
energies  of  the  South,  that  might  have  been  at  once  directed  to  its 
upbuilding,  were  employed  in  preserving  the  very  life  of  our  Cau- 
casian civilization,  the  integrity  of  the  race,  and  the  maintaining 
of  government  against  threatened  anarchy.  I  believe  the  rehabilita- 
tion of  the  South  during  the  decade  after  the  war  to  be  the  proudest 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

But  during  this  decade  the  South  became  actually  poorer  than 
at  the  close  of  the  war. 

I  am  old  enough  to  remember  the  bitterness  of  that  poverty, 
and  have  learned  to  appreciate  the  heroism  of  the  sacrifice  that 
the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  South  made  for  the  education  and 
advancement  of  their  children. 

May  I  be  pardoned  for  a  word  of  personal  reminiscence?  I 
heard  only  this  week  in  Washington  a  debate  in  the  United  States 
Senate  over  the  District  of  Columbia  child  labor  bill.  One  matter 
of  grave  discussion  was  the  inquiry  whether  the  little  pages  of 
the  Senate  would  be  deprived  of  the  emoluments  and  advantages 
of  their  position  during  school  hours  by  the  terms  of  the  bill.  It 
had  been  agreed  by  the  friends  of  the  bill  that  such  association  was 
an  education  in  itself.  Then  the  Senate  passed  to  the  consideration 
of  the  widowed  mother  who  had  no  other  means  of  support  than 
the  labor  of  the  immature  child.  And  suddenly,  to  me,  sitting  there 
in  the  Senate  gallery,  there  came  the  vision  of  my  boyhood's  home 
in  old  Virginia.  We  were  "as  poor  as  Job's  old  blue  turkey-hen,"  as 
we  used  to  say,  and  proud  of  it.     It  was  at  a  time  when  it  was 


12  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

something  of  a  disgrace  to  be  rich,  since  that  indicated  that  there 
had  not  been  sufficient  sacrifices  for  the  Southern  cause.  I  had  been 
on  a  visit  to  Washington,  where  a  prominent  lawyer  of  the  city  had 
taken  a  fancy  to  the  Httle  boy,  and,  when  I  returned,  a  letter  was 
sent  offering  me  a  position  as  a  page  in  the  Senate,  with  a  salary 
that  was  then  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice.  I  never  knew  of  the 
offer  until  it  had  been  declined.  I  was  just  beginning  to  lay  up 
my  small  store  of  Latin  and  Greek.  A  widowed  mother  had 
other  ambitions  for  her  son  than  the  career  in  Washington  offered 
before  his  education  was  finished.  I  do  not  know  how  hard  the 
struggle  may  have  been,  but  I  do  know  what  the  decision  was,  and 
therefore  I,  this  day,  in  this  distinguished  presence,  with  faltering 
voice  and  bowed  head,  do  bless  the  memory  of  the  sainted  dead. 

Let  me  say,  in  simple  justice,  that  the  awakening  of  the  South 
was  first  of  all  an  industrial  awakening.  Th^  South  had  been  able 
to  maintain  its  cotton-growing  monopoly.  Its  people  had  formerly 
turned  from  manufacturing  to  agriculture  because  of  the  conditions 
that  accompanied  slavery.  Now  they  began  to  turn  again  to  manu- 
facturing. To-day  it  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  extent  of  the 
advancement  of  the  South  along  industrial  lines.  Last  year  the 
South  manufactured  more  bales  of  cotton  into  yarn  and  cloth  than 
all  the  mills  of  the  rest  of  the  nation.  Birmingham  has  made  Pitts- 
burg sit  up  and  take  notice  in  the  iron  and  steel  works.  The  min- 
eral resources  of  the  South  in  coal  and  iron  ore  and  petroleum  are 
just  beginning  to  be  uncovered.  The  historic  advice  of  Horace 
Greeley  has  been  parodied  to  read,  ''Go  South,  young  man,  go 
South."  But,  lest  this  should  read  too  much  like  a  promoter's  adver- 
tisement, consider  finally  the  single  fact  that  in  the  last  two  decades 
the  cotton  spindles  of  the  South  have  increased  from  667,000  to 
9,500,000. 

Then  came  the  educational  awakening.  The  most  mortifying 
thing  that  can  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  an  intelligent  Southerner 
to-day  is  the  place  of  the  Southern  States  in  the  illiteracy  column. 
It  is  related  of  a  North  Carolinian,  whose  state  had  once  been  at 
the  bottom  of  the  list,  that  while  visiting  the  Washington  Library 
he  glanced  up  at  a  wall-map  with  the  states  arranged  according  to 
the  percentage  of  illiteracy,  and,  finding  that  his  state  no  longer 
occupied  the  lowest  place,  he  shouted,  "Thank  God  for  South 
Carolina."     The  storv  of  this  educational  revival  is  familiar  to  all 


South  Awakening  Against  Child  Labor  13 

in  its  more  recent  spectacular  presentations,  but  the  real  history  of 
the  times  is  that  of  patient  courage  amidst  great  difficulties,  the 
South  steadfastly  setting  its  face  toward  the  education  of  two 
races,  with  a  doubly  expensive  system  on  account  of  the  necessary 
separation  of  the  races  in  the  public  schools,  and  the  two  races 
being  educated  for  the  most  part  by  the  taxes  paid  by  one. 

And,  now,  with  the  increase  of  wealth,  with  a  higher  standard 
of  wages  and  of  living,  with  the  school  teachers  going  into  all  cor- 
ners that  the  people  may  be  taught,  there  has  begun  what  I  con- 
ceive to  be  the  most  significant  movement  of  this  generation,  the 
application  of  the  best  minds  of  the  South  to  the  solution  of  those 
vital  problems,  to  the  advancement  of  those  social  reforms  which 
are  infinitely  more  important  than  the  economic  questions  which 
have  occupied  so  much  of  the  thought  of  the  nation,  or  the  consti- 
tutional questions  which  have  seemingly  monopolized  the  theoretical 
statesmanship  of  the  South.  The  interdependence  of  the  business 
world  throughout  the  nation  was  first  established.  Business  men 
of  all  sections  met  upon  the  common  platform  of  building  up  the 
business  interests  of  the  South.  They  discovered  that  we  were  one 
people  before  the  preachers  or  the  politicians  had  found  it  out. 
Then  the  educational  leaders  of  the  nation  have  been  coming  to- 
gether in  the  series  of  southern  conferences  on  education,  and  the 
North  has  found  that  it  had  something  to  learn  from  the  South, 
while  the  South  has  been  glad  to  gain  from  the  experience  of  the 
North.  The  forming  of  a  National  Child  Labor  Committee  marked 
an  epoch  in  the  development  of  this  nation  along  the  lines  of  social 
reform.  The  agitation  had  begun  in  the  South,  in  Alabama,  and 
the  echoes  of  that  battle  for  the  children's  rights  was  heard  in  Bos- 
ton and  awakened  the  New  England  conscience  to  the  shame  of 
having  New  England  mill  owners  of  southern  mills,  with  good 
laws  in  their  own  states  for  the  protection  of  the  children,  founding 
their  industry  in  the  South  upon  the  basis  of  child  labor.  The  fight 
progressed  to  victory  in  the  passage  of  the  first  child  labor  laws  of 
Alabama,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  Virginia.  Then  it  slowly 
grew  upon  the  national  consciousness  that  this  was  a  national  evil, 
that  while  the  percentage  of  child  laborers  was  greater  in  the  South, 
the  actual  number  of  the  little  toilers  was  far  greater  in  the  North. 
And  now  no  one  speaks  in  a  general  way  of  this  national  curse  with- 


14  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

out  coupling  with  the  evil  of  child  labor  in  the  southern  cotton  mills 
that  of  the  sweat-shops  of  New  York,  the  glass  factories  of  New 
Jersey,  the  coal  mines  of  Pennsylvania. 

But  while  the  response  of  public  opinion  in  the  South  to  the 
appeal  in  behalf  of  the  children,  to  the  necessity  of  preserving  with 
its  wonted  vigor  the  racial  stock  of  the  South,  has  been  magnifi- 
cent, it  would  be  only  a  half  truth  to  point  that  out  without  indicat- 
ing also  the  defective  and  ineffective  laws  to  which  we  have  yet 
attained,  and  the  long,  slow,  toilsome  process  by  which  those  laws 
may  be  raised  to  the  proper  standard  of  effectiveness.  The  object 
of  this  reform  is  not  to  pass  laws  but  to  rescue  the  children  from 
the  mine  and  from  the  mill  and  to  put  them  into  the  school. 

Let  us  review  briefly  the  present  situation,  first  as  to  legisla- 
tion, and  then  as  to  the  number  of  children  employed  in  one  indus- 
try, which  has  been  and  still  is  the  commanding  industry  of  the 
South,  but  which  may  not  long  hold  that  position  in  the  present 
general  advance. 

Except  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  the  twelve-year  standard 
yet  obtains  in  the  South.  In  South  Carolina  and  in  Georgia  and 
in  Alabama  it  is  yet  possible  for  a  ten-year-old  child,  by  permis- 
sion of  the  law,  to  work  twelve  hours  a  day.  There  are  sixty-six 
mills  in  North  Carolina  where  twelve-year-old  children  may  work 
a  twelve-hour  night,  by  law.  The  bald  statement  of  these  facts  is  a 
damning  indictment.  We  have  almost  no  machinery  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  that  we  have,  and  their  violation  is  a  matter  of 
common  knowledge.  Except  in  Kentucky  and  Maryland,  we  have 
no  compulsory  education  laws  in  the  South,  though  I  regard  it  as 
a  fallacy  to  say  that  we  must  put  a  child  of  tender  years  into  the 
cotton  mill,  for  instance,  unless  we  can  force  him  into  the  school. 
"And  the  plea  for  compulsory  education  first  has  been  made  the 
instrument  of  sentencing  thousands  of  little  children  to  hard  labor 
for  no  other  crime  than  the  supposed  poverty  of  their  parents,  on  the 
theory  that  little  children,  with  no  evil  environments,  from  pure 
homes,  be  they  ever  so  humble,  must  be  forced  to  endure  the  long 
hours  of  the  cotton  mill,  at  constant  employment,  to  keep  them  from 
becoming  criminals.  I  resent  that  theory  as  a  libel  upon  southern 
civilization. 

Now,  take  a  glance  at  the  statistics.     How  many  children,  of 


South  Aivakeiiing  Against  Child  Labor  15 

what  ages,  are  now  employed  in  southern  cott:n  mills,  nobody 
knows.  The  manufacturing  organs  that  are  inclined  to  boom  the 
industry,  as  to  capital  invested,  the  sum  of  wages  paid  and  the  num- 
ber of  factories  and  spindles  and  looms,  are  apparently  trying  to 
convince  the  public  that  this  vast  industry  is  run  with  an  insignifi- 
cant body  of  human  workers.  The  census  bulletins  of  manufac- 
tures just  issued  for  1905  are  far  below,  in  the  statistics  of  em- 
ployees, the  statements  made  by  the  same  manufacturers,  to  the 
textile  publications.  And  yet  the  percentage  of  children  under 
sixteen  reported  by  the  manufacturers  is  enough  almost  to  arouse 
a  people  to  arms  in  their  defense. 

Yet  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  and  Information  of  Maryland 
reports  that  it  has  issued  twice  as  many  permits  for  children  under 
sixteen  at  work  as  were  reported  by  the  manufacturers  in  the 
census  bulletin  of  1905.  To  ask  a  manufacturer,  perhaps  sensitive 
on  the  subject  of  employing  children,  perhaps  afraid  of  incrimi- 
nating himself,  how  many  children  under  sixteen  are  employed  in 
his  establishment,  is  not  the  most  scientific  method  of  arriving  at 
the  truth.  And  yet  when  the  census  bureau  compiles  statistics 
gained  in  that  way,  the  statement  becomes  an  authority. 

Fortunately  for  the  cause  of  the  children,  a  recent  study  of 
the  population  tables  of  1900  gives  the  result  of  that  house  to  house 
canvass,  as  to  the  number  of  children,  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age, 
engaged  in  particular  industries.  From  that  we  learn  (census 
bulletin  69)  that  three  out  of  ten  operatives  in  southern  cotton  mills 
are  from  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age.  This  takes  no  account  of  a 
quite  appreciable  number  of  children  under  ten  so  employed. 

An  estimate  of  mine,  published  a  year  ago,  that  there  were 
sixty  thousand  children  under  fourteen  in  the  southern  cotton  mills 
has  been  widely  challenged  and  abusively  denied.  The  Blue  Book, 
a  recognized  authority  on  textile  statistics,  corrected  every  year 
from  the  reports  of  the  manufacturers,  gives  in  actual  numbers,  or 
by  fair  computation  from  the  few  mills  not  reporting  the  number 
of  their  employees,  the  sum  of  209,000  operatives  in  the  cotton 
mills  of  the  south.  But  three  out  of  ten  is  thirty  per  cent,  or  62,700 
children  from  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age,  to  which  two  or  three 
thousand  should  be  added  for  children  under  ten  years  of  age.  It 
is  my  opinion  that  the  percentage  of  children  employed  has  increased 
since  1900  on  account  of  the  shortage  of  the  labor  supply  and  tir 


i6  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

demand  for  more  operatives  caused  by  the  increase  of  fifty-five  per 
cent  in  the  number  of  spindles  since  1900.  The  figure  given, 
60,000  children  under  fourteen,  is  thus  seen  to  be  a  conservative 
estimate. 

I  quote  again  the  statement  made  by  Mr.  R.  M.  Miller,  Jr., 
of  Charlotte,  N.  C,  formerly  president  of  the  Southern  Cotton 
Spinners'  Association,  later  president  of  the  American  Cotton 
Manufacturers'  Association,  considered  an  expert  in  cotton  mill 
matters,  that  75  per  cent  of  the  spinners  of  the  North  Carolina  mills 
were  fourteen  years  and  under,  while  his  predecessor  in  office, 
Mr,  George  B.  Hiss,  of  Charlotte,  told  me  that  the  usual  calculation 
was  that  only  30  per  cent  of  the  operatives  were  adults. 

Nor  is  this  all.  From  the  mines  of  Alabama  and  Tennessee 
and  Virginia  and  Kentucky  comes  the  cry  of  the  children,  some 
of  them  allowed  to  work  by  law  at  the  age  of  twelve,  some  of  them 
working  contrary  to  the  law  at  that  age.  From  the  woolen  mills 
of  Virginia  and  Tennessee  comes  the  same  bitter  cry;  from  the 
cigar  factories  of  Florida,  from  its  canning  factories;  from  the 
silk  mills,  from  the  phosphate  mines,  the  children  stretch  out  their 
feeble  hands  to  us  for  help.  Pity  them?  pity  the  children?  Of 
course  we  do.  But  there  is  a  more  serious  problem  here.  We  are 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  the  depreciation  of  our 
racial  stock  has  already  begun,  that  we  have  a  cotton  mill  type 
that  can  be  recognized,  that  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  in  the  mill 
villages  surpasses  even  that  of  the  mountain  counties  of  some  of 
our  states,  and  that  there  is  already  beginning,  in  a  few  factory  cen- 
ters, a  moral  collapse  of  which  I  hardly  dare  speak.  And  the 
South  must  face  this  more  startling  fact  that  its  awakening  has 
come  too  late,  just  as  it  came  too  late  in  England,  to  save  a  whole 
generation  of  its  children.  The  South,  with  its  traditions  of  states 
rights,  must  answer  this  question :  Shall  we,  for  the  sake  of  one 
application  of  one  constitutional  theory,  fail  to  ask  the  aid  of  our 
national  government  in  securing  an  effective  law  and  condemn  a 
generation  of  our  precious  children  that  might  be  saved  ?  I  believe 
I  know  what  the  answer  will  be.  We  will  build  monuments  to 
our  fathers,  but  we  will  not  cut  ourselves  among  their  tombs.  Dead 
hands,  long  ago  folded  reverently  and  lovingly  upon  the  breast, 
must  not  hold  back  the  little  children  of  the  South  from  their  right- 
ful heritage.     While  the  politicians  may  find  an  issue,  the  people, 


South  Awakening  Agdinst  Child  Labor  ly 

whose  hearts  have  ever  beaten  true,  will  have  a  word  to  say  on  this 
subject. 

Believing  in  states  rights,  but  also  believing  in  the  sacred  rights 
of  childhood,  I  would  deplore  the  making  of  any  such  issue  as  shall 
put  the  rights  of  the  state  over  against  the  rights  of  the  child, 
because  the  child  will  win.  The  very  stars  in  their  courses  are 
fighting  for  his  rights,  and  the  obituary  of  the  Herods  will  be  the 
epitaph  on  the  tombs  of  dead  politicians:  'They  are  dead  that 
sought  the  young  child's  life." 

A  moral  revolution  is  sweeping  over  the  nation,  and  the  South 
is  doing  its  part  to  swell  the  wave.  After  all,  the  south  is  a  small 
part  of  the  manufacturing  life  of  the  nation.  We  are  as  yet  a 
rural  people,  loving  the  homely  virtues  of  the  soil.  But  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  manufacturing  and  mining  interests  of  the  nation 
should  take  some  recent  warnings  to  heart. 

When  the  President  called  the  coal  operators  and  the  coal  min- 
ers to  a  conference,  which  referred  their  differences  to  arbitration, 
public  sentiment  was  divided  as  to  the  rights  of  the  two  parties  to 
the  contention.  But  when  in  the  course  of  that  investigation  the 
fact  was  developed  of  the  wholesale  employment  of  boys  in  the 
mines,  public  sentiment  instantly  veered  to  the  side  of  the  miners. 

Two  years  ago  the  business  men  of  highest  repute  in  this  coun- 
try were  the  insurance  officials.  A  family  quarrel  in  one  of  the  in- 
surance companies  led  to  an  investigation.  That  investigation 
proved  the  misuse  of  trust  funds,  the  final  result  of  which  was  the 
robbery  of  the  children,  orphaned  by  the  death  of  the  bread-win- 
ners ;  and  now  Alexander  is  in  a  madhouse,  McCall  is  dead  of  a 
broken  heart,  the  McCurdy's  are  banished,  and  all  because  in  offend- 
ing the  public  conscience  the  children  were  also  touched. 

Six  months  ago  the  trust  question  was  a  subject  of  academic 
discussion.  Then  one  great  trust  was  found  to  be  poisoning  the 
people  with  unwholesome  meat,  while  others  were  convicted  of 
adulterating  food  and  drink  and  medicine  and  even  the  candy  which 
the  children  craved.  And  now  all  are  involved  in  indiscriminate 
condemnation,  so  that  every  time  the  department  of  justice  begins 
a  new  prosecution  the  joyful  people  send  a  message  of  sympathy 
to  the  White  House  saying,  *TTit  'em  again." 

The  protective  tariff  is  just  now  a  matter  of  academic  discus- 


l8  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

sion.  This  committee,  as  a  committee,  has  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
I  suppose  that  it  embraces  all  shades  of  opinion  on  that  subject. 
But  let  this  discussion  of  a  national  child  labor  law  become  the 
burning  question  in  Congress,  let  the  manufacturers  or  the  coal 
combinations  oppose  it  there,  let  the  discussion  develop  the  real 
facts  of  child  slavery,  and  it  is  easy  to  predict  that  those  who  claim 
the  right  of  the  exploitation  of  infant  industry  will  have  fatally  dam- 
aged their  claim  for  the  protection  of  infant  industries. 

For  this  nation,  of  which  the  South  is  a  loyal  part,  has  set  its 
face  already  as  a  flint  against  the  oppression  of  childhood.  It  is  not 
going  to  tolerate  it  one  instant  longer  than  it  can  be  helped.  And 
the  danger  always  is,  in  a  democracy,  that  when  it  has  become  pas- 
sionately aroused  it*  may  be  indiscriminate  in  its  punishment.  There 
is  no  power  on  earth  like  the  appeal  which  helpless  childhood  makes. 
There  is  no  vengeance  like  that  of  the  lioness  robbed  of  her  whelps. 
And  woe  betide  those  who  would  stand  in  the  way  of  this  nation, 
once  it  has  heard  the  piteous  cry  of  the  children,  and  is  rushing  to 
their  defense  and  their  salvation. 


SOME  OF  THE  ULTIMATE  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS  OF 
PREMATURE  TOIL 


By  Albert  H.  Freiberg,  M.D., 
Chairman  of  Ohio   State   Child  Labor  Committee. 


It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  it  is  as  yet  not  possible  to 
present  to  this  committee  a  comprehensive  report  upon  the  physical 
effects  of  premature  toil,  based  upon  a  thorough  and  scientific 
investigation.  Many  persons  express  surprise  at  learning  that  up 
to  this  time  no  such  study  has  been  made.  In  the  course  of  a  recent 
effort  to  improve  the  child  labor  law  of  this  state,  a  discussion 
developed  between  the  committee  and  a  group  of  manufacturers 
objecting  to  certain  of  its  provisions,  the  committee  seeking  to  show 
that  ten  hours  of  work  daily  must  be  considered  injurious  to  tlio 
organism  of  boys  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen,  even 
though  the  employment  involved  no  great  muscular  exertion.  We 
were  met  with  the  request  to  furnish  reliable  evidence  that  this  is 
the  case;  evidence  which  we  were  unable  to  produce,  even  though 
we  were  perfectly  sure  in  our  own  minds  of  the  truth  of  our  state- 
ment. It  is  apparent  that  the  value  of  such  evidence  would  be 
exceedingly  great  in  the  efforts  to  secure  for  the  growing  child  its 
natural  rights;  of  which  efforts  this  meeting  is  so  vigorous  an 
expression. 

Unless  one  has  devoted  some  thought  to  the  subject,  it  might 
appear  to  be  a  task  of  no  great  difficulty  or  magnitude  to  collect 
the  data  incident  to  such  an  investigation.  However,  the  reverse  is 
true,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following  requirements,  which  are 
none  too  severe  if  reliable  information  is  to  be  obtained. 

It  should  be  required: 

(a)  That  the  investigation  comprehend  a  large  number  of  chil- 
dren in  each  of  the  groups  to  be  mentioned. 

(b)  That  the  measurements  be  made  by  those  familiar  with 
such  work,  in  order  that  they  may  be  trustworthy ;  and  by  persons 
competent  to  detect  physical  abnormities  even  in  their  beginnings. 


frn) 


20  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

{c)  That  a  sufficient  number  of  measurements  be  taken  of  each 
child  so  as  to  insure  a  convincing  record  of  its  physical  condition. 

{d)  That  the  children  be  examined  upon  beginning  their  fac- 
tory life  and  at  certain  intervals  until  the  termination  of  adoles- 
cence. 

{e)  That  comparative  investigation  be  made  of  a  large  number 
of  children  of  the  same  types  who  have  not  been  engaged  in  gainful 
occupations  during  the  most  active  period  of  adolescence. 

The  value  of  such  an  investigation  may  well  be  considered 
inestimable.  It  would  determine  beyond  doubt  whether  the  charge 
of  physical  deterioration  from  premature  toil  is  a  just  one  or  not 
and  would  fix  definitely  the  responsibility  of  the  state  in  the  protec- 
tion of  its  future  citizens  and  mothers.  We  feel  sufficiently  sure 
of  the  result  of  such  an  investigation,  made  with  skill  and  impar- 
tiality, as  to  court  it  most  ardently.  Upon  thoughtful  consideration 
it  must,  however,  appear  that  the  means  and  power  necessary  for 
the  execution  of  so  comprehensive  a  program  cannot  be  within  the 
reach  of  a  private  association.  This  should  be  a  function  of  gov- 
ernment, and  the  need  for  it  might  well  be  looked  upon  as  one  of 
the  most  important  arguments  for  the  establishment  of  a  Children's 
Bureau  at  Washington. 

In  the  absence  of  data  dealing  with  the  investigation  of  large 
numbers  of  toiling  children  and  based  upon  a  systematic  plan  of 
observation  and  record,  it  may  nevertheless  be  of  interest  to  call 
attention  to  certain  effects  of  a  purely  physical  character  which 
professional  experience  has  for  years  been  accustomed  to  look  upon 
as  the  results  of  environment  and  occupation,  and  especially  when 
considered  with  reference  to  the  physical  peculiarities  of  the  child 
between  the  ages  of  ten  and  sixteen  years.  In  doing  this,  effort 
will  be  made  to  avoid  that  which  is  purely  technical,  but  also  that 
which  is  in  any  way  still  a  matter  of  supposition  rather  than  obser- 
vation, and  therefore  not  generally  accepted. 

The  role  of  the  play  hours  in  the  development  of  the  young 
child,  his  innate  desire  for  physical  activity  and  especially  in  the 
open,  are  well  recognized  by  all  laymen,  and  there  are  few  indeed 
who  will  npt  acknowledge  how  important  these  are  in  promoting  the 
formative  processes  which  are  at  this  time  of  life  actively  going  on. 
The  statement  that  this  natural  desire  for  movement  and  exercise 
cannot  be  balked  in  the  child  eight  to  ten  years  of  age,  without 


'  Physical  Effects  of  Premature  Toil  21 

damage  to  his  physical  progress,  will  meet  with  little  protest,  and 
for  the  present  discussion  this  is  of  minor  importance,  since,  by  far 
the  greater  number  pf  children  at  work  have  at  least  passed  their 
tenth  year,  and  since  no  state,  whose  statutes  do  not  ignore  the 
question  altogether,  has  ventured  to  place  the  limit  for  work  bdow 
this.  When  the  child  arrives  at  its  twelfth  year,  however,  it  enters 
a  period  which,  lasting  until  its  seventeenth  year  as  a  rule,  is  char- 
acterized not  only  by  those  changes  of  disposition,  of  mind  and 
soul,  of  body  and  appearance,  embraced  by  the  term  "puberty,"  but 
a  period  also  during  which  the  body  experiences  its  most  rapid 
growth  in  length.  As  the  bones  grow  longer,  at  this  rapid  rate,  the 
muscles  controlling  these  bones  must  grow  longer  with  them.  The 
muscles  must,  however,  increase  not  only  in  length  but  in  volume 
if  their  strength  is  to  be  proportionate  to  the  ever-increasing  de- 
mands made  upon  them.  That  this  increase  of  volume,  therefore, 
of  strength,  is  dependent  upon  exercise,  is  common  knowledge ;  that 
lack  of  use  causes  wasting  and  therefore  weakening  of  muscle  is 
no  less  so.  It  is  likewise  well  known  that  excessive  exercise  of 
certain  muscles  will  result  not  in  increase  of  strength  but  in  degen- 
eration and  weakening,  and  that  there  is  no  surer  way  of  inducing 
great  fatigue  than  by  using  the  same  set  of  muscles  for  a  long  time 
without  change,  thus  giving  no  opportunity  for  what  is  called  rest 
but  what  is  really  the  replenishing  of  muscle  material  which  has 
been  consumed.  Let  us  now  apply  these  statements  in  practice;  to 
the  case  of  a  girl  feeding  material  to  a  machine  and  sitting  in  one 
position  for  hours  at  a  time;  to  the  case  of  a  boy  handling  small 
articles  of  manufacture,  having  perhaps  nothing  more  to  do  than 
to  remove  them  from  one  machine  to  another  close  by,  or  to  per- 
form, in  the  standing  position,  a  set  of  movements  with  rapidity  but 
involving  no  test  of  strength  whatever.  Such  work  commonly 
develops  quickness  of  eye  and  dexterity  of  fingers.  It  is  certainly 
not  looked  upon  as  involving  physical  strain  of  any  account.  Here 
lies  the  fallacy ;  standing  and  sitting  are  looked  upon  as  passive 
and  involving  no  great  muscular  action.  If  this  were  true,  why 
should  we  then  tire  so  much  more  easily  from  standing  than  from 
walking,  since  this  apparently  requires  much  more  use  of  the 
muscles ;  why  so  much  more  easily  from  holding  a  weight  continu- 
ously in  one  position  than  from  moving  it  in  various  directions. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  standing  and  sitting  are  possible  only  by 


22  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

active  muscular  work,  and,  when  prolonged,  have  connected  with 
them  the  disadvantage  of  permitting  but  little  change  of  activity  to 
other  muscles.  It  cannot  be  surprising  to  learn,  therefore,  that 
under  these  circumstances  the  tissues  yield  under  unrelieved  strain ; 
that  the  leg  and  trunk  muscles  become  excessively  fatigued  and  thus 
compel  the  assumption,  for  relief,  of  faulty  postures  and  attitudes 
which  can  at  first  be  voluntarily  departed  from,  but  which  finally 
take  the  place  of  the  normal  and  leave  the  child  more  or  less  perma- 
nently deformed.  Thus  it  is  that,  even  before  the  advent  of  modern 
factory  employment,  certain  deformities  were  recognized  as  being 
associated  with  certain  occupations;  the  expression  "baker's  legs," 
for  example,  will  be  found  in  surgical  treatises  written  many  years 
ago.  The  argument  that  the  labor  performed  by  the  child  is  not 
hard  is  therefore  only  a  specious  one.  Keeping  a  growing  individual 
at  an  occupation,  for  ten  hours  daily,  which  involves  the  use  of  only 
a  limited  set  of  muscles,  when  he  is  at  an  age  when  nature  prompts 
running  and  jumping,  deprives  him  of  the  need  for  deep  breathing, 
and  therefore  expansion  of  the  chest,  which  these  bring  with  them, 
and  of  the  stimulus  to  the  blood  circulation  which,  although  often 
harmful  to  the  man  past  middle  age,  is  of  the  greatest  value  to  the 
developing  organism. 

However  desirable  it  may  be  to  preserve  the  normal  form  and 
symmetry  of  the  human  body,  that  it  may  be  agreeable  to  look  upon, 
there  is  underlying  this  a  factor  of  greater  import  to  humanity  than 
mere  personal  vanity.  This  is  the  economic  factor  which  takes  into 
account  the  future  of  the  individual,  after  the  period  of  immaturity 
has  passed  and  the  child  has  become  the  citizen  and  has  assumed  the 
responsibilities  of  parentage.  Whatever  can  be  shown  to  now  per- 
manently impair  wage-earning  capacity  or  to  interfere  with  the 
performance  of  family  duties,  or  indeed  to  shorten  the  tenure  of 
life,  will  be  acknowledged  by  all  to  be  of  prime  importance.  I  shall 
not  refer  to  such  conditions  as  general  weakness  or  diminished 
chest  capacity  and  the  tendency  to  acquire  disease  in  consequence 
thereof,  but  rather  to  certain  definite  deformities  which  I  have  had 
frequent  opportunity  for  observing,  both  in  process  of  formation 
and  in  their  final  results. 

For  the  present,  the  various  occupations  of  toiling  children 
may  be  grouped  according  as   the   work   is   done   in   standing  or 


Physical  Effects  of  Premature  Toil  23 

sitting  position.  In  general,  and  there  are  of  course  many  excep- 
tions, boy's  work  requires  standing  and  girl's  work  sitting.  It  may 
also  be  said,  in  the  same  general  way,  that  the  work  which  the  boy 
does  standing  is  an  apprenticeship  for  work  which  the  man  also 
does,  as  a  journeyman,  in  the  standing  position.  This  is  corre- 
spondingly true  of  girl's  work.  Standing  occupations  naturally 
involve  the  feet  and  legs  in  greatest  strain,  and  more  especially  the 
feet.  In  consequence  we  see  developing,  during  the  adolescent  years, 
that  condition  known  as  weak  and  flat  foot.  This  frequently  occurs 
in  the  adult  also  from  causes  of  similar  nature,  but  only  too  fre- 
quently the  result  of  conditions  and  weakening  which  must  be 
attributed  to  the  period  of  active  growth.  The  deformity  acquired 
in  adult  years,  though  it  may  be  disabling  and  painful  in  high 
degree,  but  rarely  assumes  the  severe  form  so  frequently  seen  in  the 
later  period  of  adolescence  as  a  sad  testimony  of  the  child's  experi- 
ence. Commonly,  the  foot  loses  its  strength  and  shape  gradually, 
so  that,  at  this  time,  but  little  notice  is  taken  of  it.  Later,  when 
the  child  has  become  the  father,  and  the  necessity  for  continuous 
employment  is  apparent,  the  feet  only  too  frequently  become  so 
painful  that  long  abstention  from  work  is  imperative,  and  it  happens 
not  rarely  that  an  entire  change  of  employment  cannot  be  avoided ; 
thus  are  lost  the  skill  and  aptitude  acquired  during  the  period  of 
prematurity;  for  while  medical  science  can  do  much  for  these 
unfortunates,  they  are  often  debarred  from  continuing  in  trades 
requiring  constant  standing.  Frequently  upon  coming  under  med- 
ical care  the  condition  is  such  that  nothing  short  of  a  long  stay  in 
hospital  will  prove  availing,  and  this  means  loss  of  income  if  not 
loss  of  independence  for  a  greater  or  less  period.  I  doubt  whether 
it  IS  generally  realized  how  frequently  such  conditions  are  met  a;» 
those  to  which  I  have  just  referred.  While  originally  uttered  in  a 
somewhat  different  sense,  the  saying  seems  here  most  appropriate 
that  "the  boy  without  play  is  the  father  without  a  job."  When  the 
one  weekly  holiday  comes,  the  accumulated  fatigue  of  the  week's 
standing  is  apt  to  be  so  great  that  only  the  exceptionally  robust  have 
the  desire  for  outdoor  exercise  left  in  them.  The  day  is  therefore 
only  too  often  used  for  repose  of  the  body,  which,  while  furnishing 
relief  to  the  excessively  fatigued  muscles,  does  nothing  for  the 
remainder  of  the  organism,  which  would  otherwise  invite  active 
movement  in  the  open  air. 


24  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Turning  now  to  the  girl  in  the  sitting  occupation,  I  would 
attract  your  attention  to  the  frequent  occurrence  of  curvature  of 
the  spine,  spoken  of  as  "lateral  curvature."  This  deformity  is  often 
seen  in  school  children  and  even  in  those  leading  luxurious  lives. 
It  betokens  a  weakness  of  fiber  and  a  need  for  physical  culture, 
which  is,  however,  to  be  controlled  by  proper  treatment.  When  this 
is  within  reach,  the  progress  of  the  deformity  is  checked  so  that 
it  does  not  become  a  menace  to  health,  and  it  is  objectionable  chiefly 
as  constituting  an  esthetic  defect  which  the  skilful  dressmaker  is 
usually  able  to  conceal. 

Were  this,  however,  the  extent  of  the  damage  done  to  the 
organism  by  lateral  curvature,  I  should  have  nothing  to  say  of  it 
in  this  place.  It  becomes  of  importance  in  this  connection,  however, 
because  it  is  so  frequently  seen  in  girls  who  have  been  engaged  in 
sitting  occupations  during  the  developmental  period  and  because 
in  them  it  assumes  not  only  the  role  of  a  deformity  of  most  severe 
type,  not  simply  a  most  unfortunate  disfigurement,  but  also  because 
it  now  constitutes  a  very  serious  menace  to  health  and  the  attain- 
ment of  longevity  of  even  average  degree.  I  shall  not  discuss  the 
deformity  in  detail  except  to  say  that  when  assuming  the  severe 
grades  under  discussion,  its  effects  reach  far  beyond  the  spine  itself, 
which  bends  not  simply  to  one  side  or  the  other,  but  is  always 
markedly  twisted  on  its  vertical  axis  also.  In  this  twist  the  chest 
participates  fully,  so  that  not  only  is  its  power  of  expansion  greatly 
interfered  with,  but  its  capacity  is  reduced  and  much  crowding  and 
displacement  of  the  vital  organs  contained  within  can  be  deter- 
mined. Small  wonder,  then,  that  such  severe  degree  of  lateral 
curvature  adds  greatly  to  the  likelihood  of  developing  pulmonary 
consumption  and  that  the  heart  cannot  be  thus  pushed  aside  with 
impunity.  It  has  been  ascertained  that,  for  these  reasons,  the  dura- 
tion of  life  of  individuals  with  severe  lateral  curvature  is  far  below 
the  average.  The  remoter  effect  of  the  deformity  upon  the  pelvis 
of  the  girl  I  need  only  mention  to  the  extent  of  saying  that  here, 
too,  a  distortion  and  diminution  of  normal  capacity  frequently 
results,  so  that  this  has  always  been  recognized  by  medical  men  as 
of  potentially  serious  influence  upon  the  maternal  function. 

In  conclusion  it  is  to  be  said  that  these  deformities  are  by  no 
means  confined  exclusively  to  the  one  sex  or  the  other;    neither  is 


Physical  Effects  of  Premature  Toil  25 

it  to  be  interpreted  that  they  occur  in  every  child  who  works,  or 
even  in  the  greater  number.  It  is  asserted,  however,  that  these 
deformities  in  the  severe  forms  before  referred  to  are  particularly 
frequent  among  toiling  children,  or  those  who  have  toiled  as  chil- 
dren. That  the  unfavorable  influences  of  premature  toil  are  only 
too  often  augmented  by  unfortunate  home  influences,  by  dwellings 
that  are  unfit,  by  insufficient  and  improper  food,  does  not  alter  the 
case.  I  have  aimed  to  speak  of  these  deformities  in  particular, 
because  of  their  serious  nature  and  because  I  have  had  abundant 
opportunity  for  observing  them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  to  be 
overlooked  that  these  are  by  no  means  the  only,  or  even  the  most 
common,  evidences  of  physical  deterioration  to  be  observed  among 
working  children. 


CHILD  LABOR  IN  THE  SOFT  COAL  MINES 


By  Owen  R.  Lovejoy, 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee. 


The  committee's  investigations  of  child  labor  in  the  soft  coal 
region  have  extended  over  sections  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and 
West  Virginia.  The  field  thus  far  studied  does  not  justify  us  in 
attempting  any  estimate  of  the  number  of  children  employed.  Child 
labor  in  the  bituminous  industry  differs  from  that  in  the  anthracite, 
as  in  the  former  there  is  no  slate  picking  and  the  children  employed 
are  inside  the  mine.  They  work  as  runners,  drivers,  door  boys  and 
couplers,  while  perhaps  the  larger  percentage  are  employed  with 
their  fathers  in  loading  coal. 

In  one  Pennsylvania  mining  borough  where  from  i,ooo  to 
1,200  people  are  employed  in  the  mines,  it  was  estimated  by  several 
of  the  miners,  two  mine  superintendents,  the  chief  burgess  and  the 
superintendent  of  schools  that  between  175  and  200  boys  under  16 
were  employed  in  the  mines.  The  comment  of  the  superintendent 
of  schools  is  significant.  He  says :  "Last  year  I  received  certificates 
signed  by  doctors  certifying  that  children  were  unable  to  attend 
school  on  account  of  physical  disability  and  we  afterward  found  the 
children  working  in  the  mine.  Of  course,  we  got  them  back  in 
school.  Men  take  boys  in  the  mine  actually  so  small  they  can 
hardly  carry  their  dinner  bucket  without  dragging  it,  in  order  to 
claim  an  extra  half  turn,  i.  e.,  more  cars  to  fill.  The  cause  of  this 
is  that  there  are  too  many  workers  in  the  mine  so  as  to  have  more 
tenants  for  the  company  houses  and  more  customers  for  the  com- 
pany stores.  All  are  expected  to  trade  at  the  company  store."  A 
borough  policeman  added  that  it  was  not  difficult  to  get  a  small 
boy  in  the  mines.  He  said:  "I  take  my  boy  to  the  superintendent 
and  tell  him  a  hard  luck  story,  and  especially  if  I  have  a  big  family 
and  trade  at  the  company  store,  he  will  take  him  in.  They  do  not 
ask  for  certificates  of  age  in  the  mines  here." 

(96) 


Child  Labor  in  Soft  Coal  Mines  27 

These  expressions  throw  Hght  on  several  causes  of  the  employ- 
ment of  young  children  in  the  coal  mines.  These  causes  may  be 
roughly  classified  as  follows : 

First.  The  Company  Store  and  the  Company  House. — It  is  claimed 
by  many  miners  and  citizens  in  the  coal  region  that  where  the  mining 
companies  maintain  general  stores  and  own  a  number  of  houses  for 
rent,  they  customarily  bring  to  the  region  a  larger  number  of  people 
than  can  be  regularly  employed.  The  result  is  that  while  the  mine  is 
operated  every  day,  each  miner  will  get  from  three  to  four  days' 
work  in  a  week,  while  the  number  of  coal  cars  assigned  each  man 
in  a  day  is  limited.  If  a  man  finds  it  impossible  to  maintain  his 
family  under  these  conditions  he  is  tempted  to  take  his  own  boys 
into  the  mine  and  on  their  account  is  allowed  fifty  per  cent  more 
cars  (called  a  half  turn)  than  if  working  alone.  Sometimes  it  is 
said  these  boys  are  too  small  to  be  of  any  real  assistance,  but  their 
presence  enables  the  father,  by  over-working,  to  earn  a  larger  wage. 
This  explanation  seems  justified  in  many  localities,  while  in  others 
the  number  of  cars  supplied  to  the  workers  is  unlimited,  and  the 
management  vigorously  discourages  child  labor. 

Second.  Racial  Traits. — We  may  illustrate  this  by  one  borough 
found  in  the  central  part  of  Pennsylvania,  inhabited  principally  by 
Swedes  and  Italians  in  about  equal  numbers.  Although  in  the 
lower  grades  of  school  the  Swedish  and  the  Italian  children  are 
about  equally  divided,  in  the  third  and  fourth  grades  the  Italian 
children  begin  rapidly  to  drop  out  and  large  numbers  were  found 
in  the  mines,  while  the  Swedish  children  remain  in  school  and  go 
through  the  grammar  grades,  and  several  of  them  into  the  high 
school.  It  was  a  small  borough  and  the  schools  were  not  graded  up 
to  the  standard  of  other  borough  and  city  schools,  but  so  far  as 
the  opportunities  afforded,  those  Swedish  fathers  and  mothers  were 
keeping  their  children  in  school  and  out  of  the  mines.  Yet  the 
houses  occupied  by  the  two  races  were  very  similar :  their  economic 
condition  appeared  much  the  same.  The  Swedes  had  perhaps  lived 
in  the  community  a  little  longer  and  therefore  were  a  little  more 
independent  than  the  Italians,  but  the  necessity  for  protecting  these 
children  of  the  Italians  against  the  misguided  ambition  of  their  pa- 
rents is  evident.  These  people  are  ignorant  of  our  English  language, 
ignorant  of  the  value  of  our  American  institutions,  ignorant  of  the 


28  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

handicap  they  are  placing  on  their  Httle  ones  by  this  premature 
employment.  The  necessity,  for  the  larger  parent,  the  state,  inter- 
vening to  protect  the  children  against  their  own  parents  is  very 
well  illustrated  by  the  case  of  a  little  boy  I  discovered  some  weeks 
ago  down  in  the  mines  in  West  Virginia.  Two  jears  ago,  at  the 
age  of  eleven,  he  came  to  school  unable  to  understand  a  word  of 
English.  Through  an  older  Italian  girl  who  had  learned  the  Eng- 
lish language  the  superintendent  said  to  the  little  fellow  that  he  was 
glad  to  have  him  there  and  that  the  school  desired  to  do  all  it 
could  to  help  him.  Goaded  on  by  the  sense  of  being  placed  in  a 
class  with  little  children  six  and  seven  years  of  age  while  he  was 
eleven,  he  was  spurred  to  his  best  endeavors,  and  through  those  two 
years  he  passed  successfully  through  the  first,  the  second,  the 
third,  the  fourth,  the  fifth,  the  sixth,  and  the  seventh  grades  of 
the  school.  But  at  the  end  of  those  two  years,  just  a  few  months 
ago,  his  father,  an  industrious,  hard-working,  patient  Italian,  thought 
the  boy's  education  was  complete  and  took  him  out  of  school.  He 
took  him  away,  outside  the  borough  limits  and  beyond  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  school,  and  down  three  hundred  feet  underground  to 
load  coal,  a  mile  and  a  half  from  daylight!  And  little  John,  who 
would  perhaps  have  been  developed  into  one  of  our  great  artists  or 
educators  or  statesmen  had  he  been  permitted  to  remain  in  school, 
now  probably  has  educational  opportunities  closed  to  him  forever. 

In  the  anthracite  field  the  same  sacrifice  of  the  so-called  foreign 
child  is  found. 

In  one  of  the  anthracite  mining  boroughs  of  Pennsylvania, 
with  a  school  population  of  about  3,500,  we  found  the  people 
divided  into  two  broad  classes,  Americans  and  foreigners.  By 
"American"  in  that  community  was  meant  Americans,  English, 
Scotch,  Irish,  Welsh  and  Germans,  wherever  they  may  have  been 
born.  By  "foreigner"  was  meant  Lithuanians,  Greeks,  Magyars, 
Italians,  Poles — a  large  number  of  races  lumped  off  together  as  for- 
eigners, or  "Slavs,"  "Huns,"  "Dagoes,"  or  by  some  other  term,  ac- 
cording to  the  moral  and  intellectual  standpoint  of  the  person 
describing  them.  There  were  these  tW'O  classes,  Americans  and  for- 
eigners. In  the  lower  grades  of  school  they  compared  very  favor- 
ably. In  the  first  two  or  three  grades  the  foreign  children — that  is, 
the  children  of  those  called  Slavs — slightly  outnumbered  the  Amer- 


Child  Labor  in  Soft  Coal  Mines  29 

ican  children.  As  we  came  up  through  the  first  two  or  three  grades, 
they  began  to  drop  out,  and  by  the  time  they  reached  the  fourth 
grade  the  ranks  of  the  foreign  children  were  sadly  depleted,  so  that 
at  the  end  of  the  grammar  school  they  had  nearly  disappeared,  and 
in  the  high  school  of  ninety-nine  pupils  there  were  only  eleven  of 
these  foreign  children.  But  I  found  this  curious  circumstance 
through  comparison  of  the  American  and  foreign  children,  that 
while  there  were  only  eleven  foreign  children  out  of  ninety-nine  in 
the  high  school,  the  honors  for  scholarship  in  the  first  and  second 
grades  of  the  high  school  were  held  by  young  Lithuanians,  while 
the  valedictorian  of  class  1905  was  a  young  Jewess  born  in  Russia. 
If  we  are  to  serve  these  elements  that  are  coming  to  us  from  all 
shores,  if  we  are  to  give  them  the  chance  to  partake  of  our  civiliza- 
tion and  become  familiar  with  the  principles  of  our  government, 
then  it  becomes  our  duty  as  American  citizens,  not  out  of  pity  for 
these  children,  but  out  of  consideration  for  our  democratic  institu- 
tions, to  offer  them,  not  the  worst  we  have,  but  the  best  we  have — 
access  to  all  our  public  institutions  and  privileges. 

Third.  The  Attitude  of  the  Mine  Management. — Sometimes  in 
the  same  community  the  widest  disparity  is  found  between  different 
mines.  In  one  mining  town  in  Central  Pennsylvania  we  found  two 
mines  located  on  the  same  hillside.  The  thickness  of  the  veins  was 
about  equal  in  the  mines.  The  general  conditions  of  mining,  so 
far  as  could  be  discovered  by  one  who  does  not  understand  the 
technical  problems  of  mining  or  of  mining  conditions,  were  about 
equal.  One  of  these  mines  is  operated  by  a  large  concern  closely 
identified  with  a  great  railroad  corporation,  and  there  I  discovered 
not  less  than  ten  per  cent,  and  possibly  fifteen  per  cent,  of  all  the 
employees  were  boys  under  sixteen  years  of  age.  The  other  mine 
was  an  independent  concern,  and  so  far  as  we  could  find  not  a  boy 
under  sixteen  years  of  age  was  employed.  One  enemy  of  this 
mining  company  who  was  interviewed  said  he  believed  there  were 
two  or  three  boys  not  sixteen  years  of  age,  but  was  not  quite  sure. 
This  we  regarded  as  rather  strong  testimony  in  favor  of  that  com- 
pany from  one  not  in  sympathy  with  it.  This  does  not  reflect  upon 
the  organization  of  the  mine  itself,  for  in  other  places  we  found  the 
reverse  true.  The  large  corporations  were  freer  from  child  employ- 
ment than  some  of  the  independent  concerns.  This  instance  is  given 
only  to  show  that  in  the  same  locality  the  difiference  seemed  entirely 


L 


30  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

due  to  the  attitude  of  the  mining  superintendents.  The  superin- 
tendent in  the  one  where  the  children  were  employed  said  he  went 
to  work  when  he  was  only  eight  years  old,  and  it  was  the  best  thing 
that  ever  happened  to  him.  He  thought  if  the  boy  had  not  enough 
education  when  he  reached  twelve  years  of  age  to  get  through  life 
successfully,  he  was  no  good  anyway,  and  the  sooner  he  went  to 
work  the  better.  The  other  superintendent,  who  had  formerly  been 
a  superintendent  of  schools,  said  he  cherished  for  every  boy  in  that 
community  the  largest  educational  opportunity.  He  said:  "If  I 
know  it,  no  boy  gets  inside  this  mine  or  any  other  mine  in  this 
borough  until  he  has  had  a  fair  opportunity  to  lay  the  foundation 
for  an  American  education." 

Fourth.  Conditions  of  Labor. — A  coal  mining  commiuiity  in 
Maryland  presents  a  striking  contrast  between  mines  located  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  same  mountain.  In  one,  an  independent  con- 
cern, it  was  estimated  by  several  of  the  employees,  and  was  the 
judgment  of  the  investigator  who  saw  all  the  people  going  into  the 
mines,  that  not  less  than  forty  per  cent  of  those  employed  were 
under  sixteen  years  of  age ;  while  in  the  other,  a  large  railroad 
mining  company,  six  or  seven  of  whose  mines  were  visited,  no  boys 
under  sixteen  could  be  found.  We  attempted  to  discover  the  reason 
for  this  disparity.  There  seemed  to  be  no  sentiment  in  the  com- 
munity that  would  have  turned  the  boys  toward  one  mine  and  away 
from  the  other,  but  on  examination  we  found  widely  differing  con- 
ditions of  labor  in  the  mines.  In  the  first  mine  where  the  boys  were 
employed  the  vein  is  from  three  and  a  half  to  four  feet  thick.  Small 
mules  are  used  for  hauling  in  the  mines,  because  the  company  does 
not  care  to  excavate  more  earth  than  is  necessary  to  get  the  coal  out 
from  the  headings.  For  driving  these  mules  boys  are  convenient, 
as  also  for  tending  doors  and  for  loading  cars.  In  the  other  mines 
the  vein  is  a  large  one,  running  from  eight  and  a  half  to  nine  feet  in 
thickness.  The  work  is  very  heavy.  The  cars  are  large,  and  the 
boys  are  not  found  profitable  there.  The  differences  were  due 
entirely  to  natural  conditions.  This  illustrates  clearly  the  error  of 
attempting  to  take  one  mining  operation  or  one  factory,  or  one 
sweat  shop,  or  one  institution  of  any  kind  in  the  study  of  this 
problem,  and  making  a  generalization  that  covers  the  whole  field. 

Fifth.  Defective  Laws. — In  Pennsylvania,  a  boy  cannot  legally 
be  employed  in  the  anthracite  mines  until  sixteen  years  of  age.    He 


Child  Labor  in  Soft  Coal  Mines  31 

may  be  employed  outside  the  mine  in  the  breakers  at  fourteen.  At  j 
twelve  years  of  age  he  may  be  employed  in  a  bituminous  mine  if 
accompanied  by  his  father,  though  he  may  not  go  in  the  mine  inde- 
pendently until  he  is  sixteen  years  of  age.  Because  of  the  defective 
law,  making  it  impossible  to  prove  the  age  of  the  child,  boys  two 
or  three  years  younger  than  twelve  years  of  age  are  employed  in 
the  bituminous  mines.  Many  whose  parents  confessed  that  the  boys 
were  ten  and  eleven  years  of  age  were  found  employed  in  some 
of  the  soft  coal  mines  of  Pennsylvania. 

In  Maryland  and  West  Virginia  the  school  and  child  labor 
laws  are  little  better,  and  where  industrial  conditions  offer  the  temp- 
tation, the  employment  of  children  is  extensive.  The  school  oppor- 
tunities in  many  of  these  districts  are  very  meager.  Sections  rich 
in  coal  deposits  and  laden  with  the  clouds  of  smoke  from  the  coke 
oven,  have  no  accessible  school  privileges  above  the  primary  grades, 
while  probably  not  over  five  per  cent  of  the  children  of  many  of 
these  communities  pass  beyond  the  grammar  grades.  One  mining 
village  in  West  Virginia  was  found  containing  about  fifty  homes 
with  no  school  whatever,  the  nearest  school  house  being  said  by  a 
neighboring  school  principal  to  be  a  mile  and  a  half  down  the  rail- 
road— there  is  no  public  highway — and  several  citizens  of  the  village 
expressed  their  doubt  whether  any  of  the  children  ever  attended 
school  there.  The  great  educational  awakening  in  West  Virginia, 
however,  gives  promise  that  in  the  near  future  adequate  school 
privileges  will  be  provided  for  every  child  in  the  state.  The  same, 
I  believe,  may  be  said  of  the  educational  awakening  in  both  the 
other  states  now  under  consideration.  In  Pennsylvania  the  activity 
of  the  school  superintendents  stationed  in  these  mining  sections  is 
remarkable.  Most  of  these  teachers  have  the  burden  of  this  problem 
heavily  upon  their  souls,  and  many  are  working  beyond  their 
strength  to  find  some  way  to  keep  the  child  from  being  exploited, 
and  to  keep  it  in  school. 

An  important  aim  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  is 
to  co-operate  actively  with  the  school  superintendents,  the  factory 
inspectors  and  other  officers  of  those  states  for  the  enactment  of 
such  laws  as  will  lift  the  burden,  will  make  it  easy  instead  of  hard 
to  have  the  law  enforced,  will  make  it  natural  instead  of  unnatural 
to  have  the  truth  told. 


32  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

We  have  been  misunderstood  frequently  in  speaking  of  the 
disposition  on  the  part  of  many  parents  to  deceive  regarding  the 
age  of  their  children,  and  we  were  recently  accused  of  charging 
widespread  perfidy  among  the  mining  population  of  Pennsylvania. 
Of  course,  such  a  criticism  is  ridiculous.  Consider  one  of  these 
foreign  parents  who  was  never  in  school ;  knows  nothing  about 
reading  or  writing  even  in  his  own  language.  His  child  has  been 
going  to  school  for  three  or  four  years.  The  parent  believes  that 
now  the  child  would  be  a  valuable  asset  in  the  family  income. 
Perhaps  his  labor  is  greatly  needed.  The  parent  believes  he  has 
already  had  sufficient  opportunity  to  gain  knowledge  and  that  the 
best  thing  for  the  child  is  to  put  him  to  work. 

Many  times,  in  fact,  these  parents  do  not  know  the  nature 
of  the  oath  they  take.  I  chanced  in  the  office  of  a  notary  public 
some  months  ago  in  Pennsylvania,  and  there  came  a  man,  evidently 
a  foreigner,  with  his  boy,  apparently  about  nine  years  of  age. 
The  man,  in  broken  English,  said  he  wanted  "work  paper"  for 
the  boy.  The  notary  public  was  not  in  town  that  day.  His  brother, 
who  was  a  traveling  salesman  for  a  local  brewery,  was  in,  and 
possibly  desiring  to  receive  the  fee  of  twenty-five  cents  offered  by 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  for  this  valuable  official  service,  he  sat 
down  at  the  table  and  asked  the  man  his  name  and  the  name  of  the 
boy.  Then  he  began  to  write.  That  was  all  the  conversation  that 
passed  between  them.  After  writing  he  stood  up  and  read  some- 
thing which  I  did  not  understand  and  this  foreigner  could  not  un- 
derstand, raised  his  hand  and  motioned  to  the  man  to  do  the  same. 
Taking  the  paper — my  errand  not  known  at  the  time — I  found 
that  this  little  fellow  was  born  on  a  certain  day  fourteen  years  and 
two  weeks  before,  and  therefore  was  two  weeks  over  the  legal  age 
limit  for  employment.  Such  is  the  confusion  that  is  spread  through- 
out the  community.  The  boy  goes  into  the  mine  after  being  in  this 
country  about  two  months.  The  school  authorities  had  not  yet 
discovered  him ;  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  do  so.  If  a  mine 
inspector  discovers  what  his  age  is  he  also  discovers  an  official 
document  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  saying  that  the  child  is 
fourteen  years  of  age  and  is  entitled  to  be  employed.  If  he  takes 
legal  action  to  remove  the  boy  from  the  mine  he  may  be  doing 
justice  to  a  boy  here  and  there,  and  he  may  do  injustice  to  some 
other  boy  who  is  undersized  but  of  the  proper  age. 


Child  Labor  in  Soft  Coal  Mines  33 

Here,  as  in  the  anthracite  region,  the  cost  in  life  and  limb 
forms  a  large  percentage  of  our  national  expenditure  for  the  pro- 
duction of  coal.  In  this  industry  as  in  others  employing  young 
children,  the  children  bear  more  than  their  share  of  the  risk,  except 
that  the  miners  and  their  laborers  engage  in  the  extra  hazardous 
department  of  the  industry.  Sam  Madill  is,  unfortunately,  not  an 
exception  in  this  region.  Going  into  the  mines  when  he  was  but 
thirteen  years  of  age,  he  worked  until  two  years  ago,  when  he  was 
run  over  by  a  car  in  the  mine  and  his  foot  taken  off.  Then  he  came 
to  school  for  two  years,  and  is  now  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  thriving 
mining  village.  We  are  told  that  many  of  the  monks  in  the  middle 
ages  believed  it  necessary  that  the  body  should  be  mutilated  in  order 
for  the  soul  to  grow.  Was  there  significance  in  this  belief  which 
led  many  of  them  to  wound,  expose,  torture  and  cripple  their  bodies 
almost  beyond  recognition  ?  Evidently  the  promoters  of  child  labor 
in  the  coal  fields  think  so,  for  in  every  large  coal-producing  com- 
munity one  meets  on  the  street  boys  and  men  who  bear  evidence  to 
the  bodily  cost  of  their  employment. 

On  the  theory  of  compensation,  the  children  of  the  coal  regions, 
deprived  of  school,  in  early  years  taken  to  work  in  the  dark  corri- 
dors of  the  mine,  should  have  as  the  reverse  side  of  their  life  picture 
a  home  of  comfort  and  attractiveness.  To  many  of  them  even 
this  is  denied.  The  coke-producing  section  of  the  soft  coal  fields 
presents  a  weird  spectacle  to  the  stranger.  At  night  the  string 
of  coke  ovens,  perhaps  half  a  mile  in  length,  is  strangely  beautiful, 
as  the  night  is  lighted  up  by  the  winding  line  of  flames,  the  dense 
cloud  of  smoke  being  brightly  illuminated.  By  day  the  scene  is 
desolation.  No  vegetation  can  grow  in  the  shade  of  the  coke  oven 
smoke,  and  for  many  hundred  feet  on  either  side  of  the  works 
appears  no  grass  or  flower  or  living  tree,  but  grimy,  unpainted 
houses,  muddy  streets  and  alleys  and  foul  stenches  from  the  Unsew- 
ered  yards.  Yet  with  all  the  wealth  of  our  national  life  and  the 
unmeasured  hidden  treasures  of  these  coal  regions,  this  is  the  type 
of  surroundings  we  offer  hundreds  of  little  children  through  all 
the  days  of  childhood — this  is  their  only  definition  of  home. 

The  National  Child  Labor  Committee  would  urge  upon  the 
judgment  and  conscience  of  the  American  people  the  necessity  of 
so  amending  the  child  labor  and  educational  laws  of  the  coal-pro- 


34  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

ducing  states  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  any  child  under  sixteen 
years  of  age  to  engage  in  any  labor  inside  a  coal  mine.  We  also 
heartily  endorse  the  recommendation  of  the  chief  mine  inspector  of 
Pennsylvania  that  certain  forms  of  labor  which  expose  to  special 
danger  should  be  limited  to  those  of  higher  age ;  that  runners  should 
not  be  less  than  seventeen,  loaders  not  less  than  eighteen,  nor  miners 
under  twenty-one.  But  in  the  interest  of  safety,  education  and  eco- 
nomic progress,  we  must  protest  against  allowing  a  child  of  four- 
teen years  of  age  inside  a  coal  mine.  The  large  percentage  of  acci- 
dents to  mine  workers  under  sixteen  years  of  age  and  to  non-English 
speaking  workmen  of  all  ages,  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the  neces- 
sity for  such  legislation  as  shall  guarantee  eyery  boy  who  con- 
templates this  dangerous  employment  both  time  and  opportunity  for 
the  development  of  sound  judgment,  physical  growth  and  a  fair 
education. 


THE  EXTENT  OF  CHILD  LABOR  IN  THE  ANTHRACITE 
COAL  INDUSTRY^ 


By  Owen  R.  Lovejoy, 
Assistant  Secretary  National  Child  Labor  Committee. 


The  specific  question  proposed  for  discussion  at  this  meeting 
is  framed  in  the  call  recently  issued  by  the  National  Civic  Federa- 
tion : 

It  is  claimed  on  the  one  side  that  there  are  12,000  boys  under  fourteen  J 
years  of  age  in  the  anthracite  coal  breakers,  whereas  officials  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  after  investigating  the  matter,  claim  that  there  are  not  over 
8,100  all  told  under  sixteen,  and  that  with  only  760  of  them  is  there  any 
doubt  about  their  being  over  fourteen — the  age  beyond  which  no  attempt  is 
made  to  prevent  employment. 

When  any  statement  is  made  that  seems  to  throw  new  light 
upon  the  condition  of  child  labor  in  our  country,  it  is  incumbent 
upon  every  one  interested  to  analyze  that  statement  and  the  method 
by  which  it  was  obtained.  For  this  reason  the  National  Child 
Labor  Committee  cordially  accepts  the  invitation  to  engage  in  this 
discussion,  not  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  or  disproving  any 
statement,  but  in  a  candid  endeavor  to  arrive  at  the  facts. 

In  an  address  delivered  by  the  speaker  before  the  National 
Child  Labor  Committee  at  the  second  annual  meeting  in  Philadel- 
phia, December  7,  1905,  is  the  following  paragraph: 

In  every  part  of  the  region  visited  child  labor  was  found  to  exist.  No 
colliery  has  been  visited  in  which  children  have  not  been  found  employed 
at  ages  prohibited  by  the  law  of  the  state.  Various  estimates  have  been 
given  of  the  number  of  boys  under  fourteen  and  under  sixteen  years  em- 
ployed in  and  about  the  hard  coal  mines  of  Pennsylvania.  The  figures  have 
ranged  from  6,000  to  12,000  under  fourteen  years.  All  of  these  estimates 
are  generalizations,  based  upon   specific  data   which  may,  and  may  not,  be 

^This  paper  was  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  National  Civic  Federation,  New 
fork,  December  12.  1906.  and.  in  part.  In  the  proceedings  of  the  Third  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee.  It  is,  therefore,  included  in  thli 
volume. 


36  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

sufficient.  Our  own  estimates  are  based  on  the  study  of  a  number  of  bor- 
oughs beHeved  to  be  typical  of  the  region,  and  have  been  gathered  in  co- 
operation with  school  officials,  mine  officers,  and  other  citizens  interested 
in  the  moral  aspects  of  our  work.  Without  entering  upon  a  detailed  dis- 
cussion of  the  statistics  collected,  it  may  be  stated  that  we  have  estimated 
not  less  than  9,000  or  10,000  boys  under  fourteen  years  of  age  in  the  mines 
and  breakers  of  the  region,  while  the  percentage  in  one  borough  investigated, 
if  carried  through  the  entire  region,  would  give  a  total  of  12,800.  By  the 
laws  of  the  state  no  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  may  be  employed 
at  any  labor  about  a  coal  mine. 

Reference  had  previously  been  made  to  the  extent  of  child 
labor  in  and  about  the  hard  coal  mines  in  an  article  published  under 
my  signature  in  the  Outlook,  August  26,  1905,  as  follows : 

Dr.  Peter  Roberts,  in  "The  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,"  has  esti- 
mated that  there  are  in  the  anthracite  region  6.400  boys  under  fourteen  years 
of  age  employed  in  and  about  the  mines.  He  based  his  estimate  on  the  num- 
ber found  in  "an  area  in  which  4,131  persons  wholly  dependent  upon  the 
mines  lived,"  and  adds  that  "in  other  sections  of  the  coal  fields  the  evil 
of  employing  children  under  age  in  breakers  and  mines  is  worse  than  in  our 
limited  area."  If  the  borough  we  are  now  studying  were  to  be  taken  as  a 
basis  for  such  a  generalization,  the  number  of  boys  under  fourteen  years  of 
age  working  in  the  anthracite  coal  industry  would  be  12,800  instead !  The 
actual  number  lies  probably  between  these  two  figures,  but  until  some  accu- 
rate method  of  determining  the  age  of  the  children  has  been  applied  the 
exact  number  will  never  be  known. 

Possibly  it  is  to  one  of  these  statements  this  call  refers.  It  is 
doubtless  to  one  of  the  above  utterances  the  Honorable  Chief  of  the 
Department  of  Mines  refers  in  his  anthracite  report  for  1905,  in 
the  following  paragraph : 

During  the  latter  part  of  1905  a  man  by  the  name  of  Lovejoy  made  a 
tour  of  the  anthracite  counties  inquiring  into  the  ages  of  boys  employed  at 
the  mines.  In  blazing  head-lines  the  daily  papers  published,  on  Mr.  Love- 
joy's  authority,  the  statement  that  10,000  boys  were  found  at  work  in  and 
about  the  breakers  who  were  under  the  legal  employment  age  of  fourteen 
years.  A  newspaper  reporter  called  my  attention  to  this  report,,  and  asked 
if  it  was  true.  I  answered  that  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  it  was  not 
true ;  that  it  was  a  very  extravagant  statement.  One  of  the  district  inspec- 
tors was  also  asked  regarding  the  report,  and  he  denied  its  accuracy,  stating 
that  in  his  opinion  there  were  not  more  than  2,000  boys  who  were  below  the 
employment  age,  and  even  they  had  certificates  from  their  parents  or  guard- 
ians to  show  that  they  were  over  fourteen. 


Child  Labor  in  Anthracite  Coal  Industry  37 

It  is  unfortunate  that  Mr.  Roderick  was  led  by  ''blazing  head- 
lines" in  "the  daily  papers"  to  print  in  his  official  report  a  direct 
charge  of  extravagant  statement  against  one  whose  study  of  the 
subject  had  been  entirely  friendly  and  whose  statements  had  never 
suggested  either  laxness  or  inefficiency  in  the  inspection  depart- 
ment. But  we  are  confident  that  a  frank  discussion  will  remove 
any  cause  for  misunderstanding,  and  the  National  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee welcomes  this  opportunity  to  explain  its  methods  of  inves- 
tigation and  of  compiling  estimates. 

It  should  first  be  observed  that  the  statement  ''in  blazing  head- 
lines" was  never  made  by  my  authority  or  the  authority  of  the 
National  Child  Labor  Committee  that  "10,000  boys  were  found  at 
work  in  and  about  the  breakers  who  were  under  the  legal  employ- 
ment age  of  fourteen  years."  It  was  said,  discussing  the  estimate 
made  by  Dr.  Peter  Roberts,  "if  the  borough  we  are  now  studying 
were  taken  as  a  basis  for  such  a  generalization,  the  number  of 
boys  under  fourteen  years  of  age  working  in  the  anthracite  coal  in- 
dustry would  be  12,800."  It  was  also  specifically  said  in  this  same 
paper,  "but  until  some  accurate  method  of  determining  the  age  of 
the  children  has  been  applied,  the  exact  number  will  never  be 
known." 

The  Method  of  Computing. 

The  borough  under  consideration  was  one  containing  a  popu- 
lation of  6,400,  with  between  2,300  and  2,400  people  working  in  the 
mines;  with  a  school  population  of  1,636,  a  school  enrollment  of 
1,071,  and  an  average  attendance  of  700.  A  list  of  eighty  pupils 
who  had  left  school  under  the  legal  age  was  taken  and  a  personal 
investigation  made  of  thirty-nine,  who  were  found  to  range  in  age 
from  9  to  12  years,  and  who  were  working  in  the  mines  or  break- 
ers of  the  borough.  In  this  same  borough  at  one  breaker  twenty- 
two  boys  were  interviewed  at  noon,  all  but  two  of  whom  acknowl- 
edged that  they  were  under  fourteen ;  while  of  the  remaining  two, 
one  was  found  by  the  school  record  to  be  ten  instead  of  fourteen, 
as  he  had  claimed,  while  the  other  boy.  fifteen  years  old,  had  been 
out  of  school  and  at  work  for  more  than  six  years.  These  boys 
were  all  provided  with  affidavits  from  their  parents  certifying  that 
they  were   fourteen  years  old,  and  the  outside   foreman  had  pre- 


[ 


38  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

viously  expressed  his  belief  that  no  boys  under  fourteen  were 
employed. 

Not  desiring  to  rely  on  this  personal  canvass,  a  statement  was 
secured  from  the  borough  superintendent  of  schools,  a  man  who 
could  have  no  interest  in  exaggerating  the  estimate  and  who  was 
entirely  friendly  toward  the  mining  companies  of  the  borough  and 
the  miqe  inspector  of  his  district.  His  estimate  of  the  number  of 
children  employed  in  the  coal  breakers  of  the  borough  under  four- 
teen years  of  age  was  as  follows:  9  years  old,  35 ;  10  years  old,  40; 
II  years  old,  40;  12  years  old,  45,  and  he  thought  that  40  more  would 
be  found  between  12  and  14  years  of  age.  This  accounts  for  200 
of  the  300  boys  believed  by  mine  superintendents  and  others  familiar 
with  the  industry  to  be  working  in  the  breakers  of  that  borough. 
Since  2,350  mine  workers  (the  number  estimated  in  this  borough) 
is  approximately  one-sixty-fourth  of  the  153,000  mine  workers  esti- 
mated as  employed  in  the  entire  region  at  that  time,  sixty-four 
times  the  200  in  this  borough  would  make  the  12,800  referred  to. 

But  the  investigation  was  not  confined  to  this  borough.  Under- 
age children  with  fraudulent  certificates  were  interviewed  both  at 
home  and  at  work  in  many  other  parts  of  the  coal  region.  Sum- 
maries from  two  other  boroughs  may  indicate  the  general  trend  of 
the.  information  secured. 

The  superintendent  of  schools  in  a  borough  of  25,000  population 
reported  that  the  school  enrollment  was  3,450;  that  boys  usually 
left  school  at  13  or  14,  and  that  "300  at  least"  under  14  were  at 
work  in  the  breakers.  This  was  in  a  community  in  which  improved 
slate-picking  machinery  has  been  extensively  introduced,  and  the 
demand  for  child  labor  greatly  decreased.  In  another  borough  of 
12,000  population  the  school  superintendent  said  600  boys  under  14 
working  in  the  breakers  would  be  a  conservative  estimate.  (This 
borough,  it  will  be  observed,  if  taken  as  a  basis  for  the  entire  region, 
would  give  a  total  of  18,000,  while  if  the  average  for  the  three  bor- 
oughs had  been  made  the  basis,  the  total  would  be  15,200.) 

Later  Testimony. 

Similar  estimates  have  been  received  from  time  to  time  from 
various  localities  in  the  anthracite  region  and  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  data  to  estimate  the  eflfect  of  the  act  of  1905,  portions  of 


Child  Labor  in  Anthracite  Coal  Industry  39 

which   were   declared   unconstitutional,   a   letter   was   addressed   in 
November  to  a  number  of  borough  and  township  school  superin- 
tendents, and  up  to  the  present  time  the  following  replies  have  been 
received:  The  school  superintendent  of  one  borough,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  6,000,  with  900  enrolled  in  the  public  school,  reports  that 
boys  usually  leave  school  at  ages  ranging  from  12  to  14,  and  that 
he  believes  175  boys  between  14  and  16  and  250  under  14  are  em- 
ployed in  the  mines  and  breakers  of  the  borough.     He  also  affirms 
that  these  boys  have  no  certificates  showing  them  to  be   14  years 
old.     Probably  he  does  not  regard  the  parent's  affidavit  as  a  cer- 
tificate.    The   superintendent   of   schools   in   a   borough   of    18,000 
population  says  that  only  about  1,840  of  the  3,291  children  of  school 
age  are  in  school  and  that  the  boys  customarily  drop  out  of  school 
at  12  years  of  age  to  work,  but  gives  no  estimate  of  the  number. 
Another  superintendent  of  schools  in  a  borough  of  7,500  people, 
with  1,520  children  between  6  and  16  years  of  age,  of  whom  about 
1,300  are  in  school,  says  that  he  assumes  that  200  boys  under  16 
are  employed  in  the  mines  and  breakers,  50  of  whom  are  under  14 
in  the  breakers.     In  a  borough  of   15,000  population,  with  4,000 
mine   workers,   the   superintendent  of   schools   estimates   200  boys 
under  16  in  the  mines  and  breakers,  but  says  the  number  under  14 
is  small.     The  superintendent  of  schools  in  a  township  of  15,181 
population,  in  which  the  new  child  labor  law  was  enforced  even  afterv. 
its  constitutionality  was  denied,  and  in  which  400  under-age  children  \ 
were  added  to  the  school  rolls  last  year,  estimates  that  not  less  J 
than   100  boys  under  14  are  working  in  the  breakers.     These,  he/ 
claims,  are  working  without  certificates  proving  their  age.    This  is 
in  a  township  in  which,  after  several  days'  stay,  we  had  found  a 
much  smaller  number.     In  another  borough  of  18,000  population, 
with  3,050  children  in  the  schools,  the  superintendent  estimates  that 
of  the  3,800  people  employed  in  the  mines  and  breakers,  350  are 
under  16,  while  200  are  under  14  years  of  age.    In  making  this  esti- 
mate, he  says  "conditions  right  in  the  borough  are  not  so  bad."    He 
then  explains  that  9  of  the  largest  breakers  are  just  outside  the 
borough  limits,  and  that  the  larger  number  of  miners  are  employed 
in  these;  but  the  300  includes  only  those  who  work  in  the  mines 
and  breakers  within  the  borough  limits.    Less  than  six  months  ago 
he  had  estimated  1,000  boys  residing  in  the  borough  who  were  work- 


40  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

ing  illegally  in  the  collieries,  whether  within  or  outside  the  borough 
limits. 

These,  with  the  three  boroughs  above  referred  to,  give  9,  with 
definite  replies  from  7.  Taking  the  replies  from  these  seven  bor- 
oughs which  give  definite  estimates,  we  found  an  aggregate  popula- 
tion of  90,083,  a  school  enrollment  of  14,993,  ^  mining  population 
of  25,000,  or  approximately  one-sixth  of  the  mine  workers  of  the 
anthracite  region,  in  which  these  school  superintendents  estimate  not 
less  than  2,460  boys  are  working  under  age  with  certificates  based 
only  on  the  unsupported  affidavits  of  the  parent. 

A  Reasonable  Basis. 

That  this  portion  of  the  field  constitutes  a  fair  percentage  as  a 
basis  for  computation,  and  that  this  method  is  entirely  justified,  is 
evident  from  a  comparison  with  methods  pursued  by  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Labor  in  its  investigations.  In  the  eighteenth 
annual  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1903,  on  "Cost  of  Liv- 
ing and  Retail  Prices  of  Food,"  a  total  is  estimated  on  the  basis 
of  an  investigation  of  25,440  families,  representing  124,108  per- 
sons, or  one  person  in  every  644  of  the  population ;  while  we  here 
have  an  estimate  based  upon  one-sixth  of  the  entire  population  con- 
cerned, or  100  times  the  foundation  on  which  the  government  rests 
its  report.  If  the  same  proportion  of  child  labor  prevailed  in  the 
entire  region  which  is  estimated  here  by  these  school  superin- 
tendents, the  total  would  be  six  times  2,460,  or  14,760  boys  working 
under  age,  with  falsified  certificates,  in  the  mines  and  breakers  of  the 
region.  It  is  not  claimed  and  has  never  been  claimed  by  this  com- 
mittee that  the  number  of  boys  under  age  in  the  breakers  is  six 
times  the  2,460  estimated  by  the  school  superintendents  of  these 
seven  boroughs.  The  nearest  approach  to  such  a  claim  has  been 
that  if  the  same  percentage  prevailed  throughout  the  region  as 
found  in  these  boroughs  for  which  estimates  were  given  by  the 
school  superintendents,  the  number  in  the  mines  and  breakers  would 
be  not  less  than  10,000  or  12,000,  but  estimates  of  the  number  have 
been  always  accompanied  by  the  contention  that  "until  some  accu- 
rate method  of  determining  the  age  of  children  has  been  applied,  the 
exact  number  will  never  be  known."  The  school  superintendents, 
the  class  of  public  officials  most  familiar  with  the  children,  com- 


Child  Labor  in  Anthracite  Coal  Industry  41 

plain  of  the  difficulty  in  determining  the  age  of  the  children  in 
default  of  accurate  vital  statistics,  while  the  obstacles  met  by  the 
mine  inspectors  have  been  clearly  set  forth  in  this  report  of  Mr. 
Roderick. 

Not  Unfriendly. 

The  superintendent  of  schools  in  the  borough  estimating  the 
largest  percentage  of  child  labor  says  the  "mine  inspector  is  a  warm 
personal  friend  of  mine,  and  is  very  vigilant  in  the  borough.  As 
soon  as  we  get  on  track  of  any  children  in  the  borough  working 
under  age  I  report  and  he  does  the  rest."  This  sentence  expresses 
the  attitude  of  many  of  these  superintendents  who  have  corresponded 
with  us  on  the  extent  of  child  labor  in  the  mines  and  breakers,  and 
may  well  serve  to  indicate  the  spirit  in  which  our  work  has  been 
prosecuted.  Having  taken  up  the  discussion  in  the  Woman's  Home 
Companion,  September,  1906,  of  the  prevalence  of  child  labor  in 
the  anthracite  field  because  of  the  defective  law  in  Pennsvlvania, 
I  reported  the  results  of  an  investigation  made  in  April  and  May  of 
the  present  year,  and  said : 

Such  instances  do  not  reflect  on  the  integrity  or  the  ability  of  the  mine 
inspectors.  Each  one  is  set  to  do  the  task  of  five  or  ten  men,  without  even 
the  arm  of  an  enforceable  law  to  support  him.  An  inspector  may  be  assigned 
to  visit  from  fifteen  to  thirty  mines,  and  frequently  a  mine  will  contain  from 
forty  to  one  hundred  miles  of  gangways  and  headings,  all  of  which  should 
be  carefully  inspected  for  gas,  loose  overhanging  slate,  defective  timbering 
and  faulty  ventilation.  The  thorough  inspection  of  a  large  mine  may 
require  from  five  days  to  two  weeks.  It  is  requiring  of  a  man  nothing  less 
than  superhuman  knowledge  and  ability  to  expect  him  to  read  at  sight  the 
ages  of  two  or  three  hundred  boys — especially  in  the  face  of  legal  documents 
which  justify  their  presence. 

This  attitude  is  far  removed  from  that  suggested  in  the  report 
of  the  Department  of  Mines  for  1905,  which  says : 

The  general  public  by  this  most  unreliable  authority  was  .isked  to 
believe  that  through  the  neglect  of  the  mine  inspectors  10,000  children  were 
allowed  to  work  in  and  about  the  breakers  in  plain  violation  of  the  law. 

DiMculties  of  Inspection,    ■ 

The  whole  spirit  of  the  work  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee has  been  friendly  to  the  Department  of  Mine  Inspection,  and 
every  spoken  or  written  utterance  on  the  subject  has  laid  emphasis 


42  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

on  the  difficulties  attending  the  work  of  this  department  in  view  of 
the  intolerable  law  now  on  the  statute  books  of  Pennsylvania  gov- 
erning child  labor  in  the  mines.  This  is  admirably  set  forth  in  Mr. 
Roderick's  report  in  the  following  words: 

The  difficult  thing  is  to  get  at  the  correct  ages  of  these  boys,  as  at 
least  seventy-five  per  cent  of  them  were  born  in  foreign  countries.  Besides 
this,  the  department  has  neither  the  time  nor  the  money  to  spend  in  prose- 
cuting the  parents  or  guardians  of  these  children.  If  the  next  legislature 
could  be  induced  to  appropriate  about  $50,000  for  this  purpose,  the  depart- 
ment could  enter  proceedings  to  get  at  the  true  facts  in  the  matter. 

This  is  a  clear  admission,  perhaps  unintentional,  of  the  inability 
of  the  Department  of  Mine  Inspection  to  secure  with  the  funds 
and  laborers  at  its  command  an  accurate  census  of  child  labor  in  the 
anthracite  region,  and  no  one  would  more  sincerely  approve  this 
wise  recommendation  for  an  adequate  and  accurate  investigation 
than  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee.  We  should  regard  the 
published  results  as  an  inestimable  aid  in  our  efforts  to  arouse  pub- 
lic sentiment  on  the  subject.  The  report  cites  one  case  in  point  of 
a  boy  reported  by  Mr.  Nearing,  secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Child 
Labor  Committee,  as  at  work  under  the  legal  age  in  a  coal  breaker. 
The  department  took  up  the  case  at  once,  but  the  attorney  for  the 
boy's  father  presented  an  affidavit  from  the  father  that  the  boy  was 
two  years  older  than  the  parents  had  represented  to  the  witness  of 
the  commonwealth.  The  report  continues:  "As  the  oath  of  the 
father  would  have  more  weight  than  the  oath  of  the  agent  of  the 
society,  the  department  felt  that  it  could  do  nothing  else  than  drop 
the  case  and  pay  the  attorney's  fee  and  expenses." 

A  Startling  Claim. 

Yet  in  the  face  of  this  acknowledgment  of  the  extreme  diffi- 
culty in  gathering  reliable  data,  the  department  makes  the  remark- 
able statement  that  "the  boys  of  doubtful  age  number  a  little  over 
9  per  cent  of  the  total  number  employed."  The  inspector  found  760 
boys  of  whose  age  they  were  in  doubt,  though  the  chief  reports  that 
"it  is  very  probable,  however,  that  many  of  the  760  classed  as  doubt- 
ful by  the  inspectors  are  over  14." 

It  has  been  the  contention  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Commit- 
tee  from  the  beginning  of  its   study  of  this  field  that   the  mine 


Child  Labor  in  Anthracite  Coal  Industry  43 

inspectors  have  been  hampered  in  their  work  by  the  fact  that  nearly- 
all  the  boys  have  sworn  certificates  to  their  legal  age  for  employ- 
ment; by  the  fact  that  the  records  at  the  mines  show  all  boys  to  be 
of  proper  age ;  by  the  fact  that  the  visiting  inspector  is  usually 
known  to  the  boys,  who  are  thus  on  their  guard  against  any  com- 
promising confession ;  and  also  by  the  extent  of  the  field  to  be  cov- 
ered. The  department  reports  an  average  of  45  mines  for  every 
deputy  inspector,  which,  as  every  one  familiar  with  the  industry 
try  knows,  would  require  superhuman  speed  and  strength  of  every 
one  of  these  15  representatives  of  the  state.  In  his  report  for  1903, 
Mr.  Roderick  criticises  the  law  requiring  every  mine  to  be  inspected 
at  least  every  two  months  in  these  words:  "This  requirement  defeats 
the  very  purpose  of  the  act  ^nd  reduces  the  inspector  to  a  mere 
walking  machine  with  time  only  to  note  the  most  trivial  matters." 
Discussing  the  legal  age  of  boy  employees,  this  report  says : 

The  law  is  emphatic  in  its  requirement  of  properly  attested  certificates 
for  children  applying  for  employment,  but  unfortunately,  under  the  present 
system  no  protection  is  afforded  in  cases  where  the  age  is  falsely  represented. 
The  inspectors  may  frequently  have  doubts  as  to  the  eligibility  of  the  boys 
who  are  given  employment,  but  as  the  certificates  have  been  accepted  by  the 
mine  foremen,  they  are  without  authority  to  take  action   m  the  matter. 

After  referring  to  his  demand  that  the  companies  should  require 
certificates  of  all  boys  employed  showing  them  to  be  14  or  16, 
according  as  they  were  employed  outside  or  inside,  he  says  (report 
for  1903)  : 

While  the  certificates  attested  to  the  ages  fourteen  or  sixteen,  it  was 
evident  that  many  of  the  boys  were  under  that  age. 

Not  only  are  the  mine  inspectors  dependent  upon  the  records 
of  aflfidavits  in  the  office  of  the  mining  companies  and  the  state- 
ments of  the  boys  themselves  for  information  regarding  the  number 
under  16  years  of  age — for  these  records  show  none  under  14 — 
but  every  step  they  take  toward  preventing  the  employment  of  a  boy 
of  doubtful  age  must  be  taken  in  the  face  of  a  legal  document, 
which  is  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  employer's  right  to  hire  the 
child.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  learn  that  only  760  children 
of  doubtful  age  were  found  by  that  investigation.  The  Department 
of  Mine  Inspection  is  to  be  credited  with  commendable  energy  in 


44  ^^^  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

discovering  even  so  many.     But  to  grant  that  this  is  the  total  num- 
ber would  be  quite  another  matter. 

CThe  Census  Bulletin  on  Mines  and  Quarries  for  1902,  which 
reports  11,857  boys  under  16,  does  not  find  any  boys  under  14 
working  (Table  7,  page  14).  The  same  Bulletin  (Table  90) 
which  shows  an  average  of  3,822  boys  employed  under  16  above 
ground  in  the  anthracite  mines,  does  not  find  any  boys  under  16 
below  ground.  Yet  the  commission  appointed  by  President  Roose- 
velt to  arbitrate  the  coal  strike  of  that  year  had  no  difficulty  in 
finding  that  boys  under  16  were  employed  in  the  mines  and  boys 
under  14  were  employed  outside  in  the  breakers.  These  facts  were 
not  shown  in  the  census  for  the  obvious  reason  that  the  census  col- 
lectors were  dependent  for  information  upon  sources  which  could 
not  furnish  the  facts  discovered  by  the  commission.  No  employer 
could  have  been  expected  to  go  through  his  file  of  work-certificates, 
which  the  state  provides,  and  say  *'20,  or  30,  or  50  of  these  are  based 
on  false  representation  of  age" ;  he  would  have  been  doing  an  injus- 
tice to  his  employees  had  he  done  so.  This  is  no  criticism  of  the 
census,  but  is  intended  to  point  out  the  wrong  done  by  the  state  to 
the  child,  the  parent,  the  employer,  and  the  accuracy  of  the  census 
by  this  defective  law.  And  it  would  be  as  reasonable  for  the 
Director  of  the  Census  to  come  forward  and  affirm  because  his 
representatives  found  no  boys  under  14  in  the  breakers  and  no  boys 
under  16  in  the  mines,  that  there  were  none,  as  for  the  chief  of  the 
Department  of  Mines  to  insist  that  only  760  boys  of  doubtful  age 
are  employed,  because  only  that  number  were  found. 

While  there  is  no  way  of  determining  the  number  of  boys  under 
any  given  age  in  the  industry,  the  following  figures  from  the  last 
three  annual  reports  of  the  Department  of  Mines  will  be  instructive. 
The  tables  which  classify  the  employees  show  for  the  kinds  of  labor 
in  which  boys  are  employed: 

1903.  1904.  1905. 

Drivers  and  runners  11,252  11,607  12,069 

Door-boys  and  helpers    3,067  3,i73  3,284 

Slate  pickers    (boys)    11,430  12,128  12,040 

Slate    pickers    (men)     5,234  5,599  4,734 

Excluding  from  this  list  the  4,734  slate  pickers  classed  as  men, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  drivers,  runners,  door-boys,  help- 


Child  Labor  in  Anthracite  Coal  Industry  45 


ers  and  slate  pickers  (boys)  in  1905  was  2^,;^^^  In  view  of  the 
large  number  of  young  boys  to  be  found  in  all  these  branches  of  the 
industry,  and  the  fact  that  their  age  certificates  are  so  untrustworthy, 
the  estimates  given  by  the  school  superintendents  of  the  number 
of  under-age  boys  employed  do  not  appear  exaggerated. 

Sacrifice  of  Life  Increases. 

Despite  the  discrepancy  in  the  figures  given  by  the  mine  inspec- 
tors and  the  school  superintendents  of  the  mining  boroughs,  no 
doubt  all  agencies  working  for  the  protection  of  childhood  and 
all  federal  and  state  officials  will,  without  prejudice,  unite  in  their 
effort  to  ascertain  and  present  to  the  public  an  accurate  estimate. 
But  with  the  recommendation  in  the  report  for  1905  (Depart- 
ment of  Mines,  page  x)  for  the  "enactment  of  one  law,  making  the 
employment  age  14  years  for  boys  employed  in  and  about  the  anthra- 
cite and  bituminous  mines,''  \\t  are  compelled  to  to.ke  issue.  The 
effect  of  the  adoption  of  such  a  recommendation  can  be  seen  by  a 
study  of  the  menace  to  life  and  health  in  the  coal  industr}^  The 
report  of  this  department  for  1905  shows  that  the  number  of  fatal 
accidents  in  that  year  was  larger  than  in  any  of  the  past  twenty-five 
years.  This  might  reasonably  have  been  expected  from  the  increase 
in  the  industry,  but  the  same  report  shows  (page  xxxvi)  that  the 
number  of  lives  lost  inside  the  mines  per  thousand  employed  was 
larger  in  1905  than  in  any  year  since  1883  with  the  single  exception 
of  1891,  and  the  number  lost  outside  was  larger  per  thousand  em- 
ployed in  each  of  the  years  1903,  1904,  and  1905,  than  in  any  year 
since  1880;  while  the  entire  number  lost  per  thousand  employed  was 
larger  in  1905  than  in  any  year  since  1880.  The  report  also  shows 
(page  Iviii)  that  with  the  single  exception  of  1895,  there  has  been 
no  year  in  the  past  eleven  when  so  many  lives  were  lost  in  propor- 
tion to  the  coal  produced  as  in  1905.  This  is,  indeed,  a  bad  show- 
ing for  an  industry  in  which  improvements  in  machinery  and  meth- 
ods are  constantly  being  made,  and  in  which,  even  were  there  no 
humane  motive,  the  financial  loss  of  such  fatalities  would  prompt  'the 
employers  to  extreme  precaution.  With  improved  machinery,  bet- 
ter ventilation,  electric  lighting  and  electric  haulage,  the  loss  of  life 
should  be  reduced  to  a  minimurrt  instead  of  constantly  increasing. 


46  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Caused  by  Youth  and  Ignorance. 

The  cause  of  this  sacrifice  of  Hfe  is  revealed  in  this  report,  and 
is  a  positive  confirmation  of  the  need  of  such  protection  as  we  are 
urging.  There  were,  according  to  Mr.  Doderick's  report,  in  1905, 
16,774  slate  pickers,  8,124  (48.4  per  cent)  of  whom  were  under 
16  years  of  age.  Yet  75  per  cent  of  the  slate  pickers  killed  were 
under  16.  In  other  words,  the  average  boy  under  16  years  in  a 
coal  breaker  takes  something  over  three  times  as  much  risk  as  the 
adult  of  losing  his  life. 

The  report  oflfers  two  lines  of  explanation  of  this  sacrifice  of 
children:  the  first  relates  to  child  nature;  the  second  to  education. 
First,  the  report  says  (page  xi)  : 

The  dangers  that  menace  the  boys  in  and  about  the  anthracite  breakers 
are  perhaps  more  serious  than  those  that  menace  the  boys  working  inside 
the  mines.  If  the  boys  tending  doors  in  the  mines  would  stay  at  their 
work  they  would  be  practically  safe  from  danger,  but  when  there  is  a  slack- 
ness in  the  work  they  frequently  run  away  from  the  doors,  and  when 
they  hear  the  cars  coming,  in  their  haste  to  return  to  their  post  of  duty, 
they  are  apt  to  fall  and  be  run  over,  or  they  are  so  late  in  opening  the 
doors  that  the  cars  come  upon  them  before  they  get  out  of  the  way,  and 
the  result  is  often  injury  or  loss  of  life  to  themselves  or  the  drivers.  The 
same  observation  will  apply  to  boys  in  the  breakers.  If  they  could  be 
compelled  to  remain  at  their  working  places  when  the  breaker  is  running 
empty,  instead  of  going  about,  they  would  incur  very  little  danger.  The 
fact  is,  however,  that  the  minute  the  chutes  are  cleared  the  boys  run  loose, 
climb  on  top  and  over  the  safety  guards,  and  frequently  fall  on  or  into  the 
machinery,  and  are  injured  or  killed.  They  also  run  and  jump  on  moving 
cars,  and  in  many  other  ways  invite  disaster.  The  management  should  im- 
pose the  penalty  of  discharge  upon  a  boy  who  leaves  his  work  in  the  breaker 
or  in  the  mine. 

In  other  words,  the  breaker  boy  is  surrounded  with  so  many 
dangers  that  for  his  own  protection  he  must  be  denied  even  a 
moment  of  respite  in  his  eight-  or  nine-hour  day  bent  over  the  coal 
chutes.  The  report  recognizes  that  play  is  natural  to  a  child  of  this 
age,  but  proposes  its  suppression  by  the  immediate  discharge  of  any 
boy  who  leaves  his  task  for  a  moment. 

Second,  the  report  shows  that  the  larger  number  of  accidents 
are  suffered  by  non-English-speaking  people.  During  1905,  130 
English-speaking  miners  and  laborers  were  killed  inside  the  mines, 
while  326  non-English-speaking  miners  and  laborers  were  killed. 


Child  Labor  in  Anthracite  Coal  Industry  47 

'The  department  is  unable  to  say,"  says  Mr.  Roderick  (page  xxxv), 
"what  proportion  of  the  employees  in  the  mines  are  English-speaking 
persons,  but  it  is  evident  that  the  fatalities  among  the  employees 
designated  as  non-English  speaking  are  largely  in  excess  of  their 
proportionate  number.  This  is  not  surprising,  however,  and  will 
continue  to  be  the  case  until  these  people  acquire  sufficient  knowledge 
of  the  English  language  to  understand  orders  given  by  foremen, 
and  thus  be  able  to  protect  themselves  in  the  performance  of  their 
duties." 

With  the  record  of  this  preponderance  of  accident  and  death 
falling  to  children  and  to  non-English-speaking  employees,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  harmonize  Mr.  Roderick's  argument  for  a  reduction  of  the 
age  limit  for  employment  in  coal  mines  to  14  years.  He  says 
(page  xi)  : 

Under  the  present  anthracite  law  great  injustice  in  many  instances 
is  done  to  heads  of  large  families,  and  more  particularly  to  poor  widows, 
by  reason  of  their  boys  being  prohibited  from  entering  the  mines  until  they 
are  sixteen  years  of  age.  They  are  by  this  extreme  enactment  deprived  of  a 
natural  and  much-needed  support.  I  am  not,  however,  in  accord  with  the 
bituminous  law  that  makes  the  employment  age  twelve  years.  Both  laws 
are  radically  wrong  in  this  respect  and  should  be  amended  on  reasonable 
lines.  In  the  anthracite  region,  as  before  stated,  they  bear  unjustly  upon 
the  widows  and  heads  of  large  families,  and  in  the  bituminous  region  they 
work  injury  to  the  boys  by  permitting  them  to  go  to-  work  at  too  early 
an  age.  The  bituminous  workers  contend,  however,  that  the  employment 
age  should  not  be  raised,  for  the  reason  that  there  is  no  employment  for  the 
boys  in  that  region  except  inside  of  the  mines.  In  my  opinion  there  is  no 
reason  whatever  for  making  any  distinction  between  the  ages  of  boys  out- 
side and  inside  the  mines. 

With  the  appeal  for  a  uniform  age  standard  in  both  fields  we 
are  in  full  accord,  but  from  the  recommendation  that  the  employ- 
ment age  should  be  fixed  at  14  years,  it  would  seem  that  every  per- 
son and  agency  interested  in  child  protection  must  dissent.  Not 
only  has  the  report  demonstrated  that  boys  are  more  liable  to 
injury  than  men  because  they  are  boys  and  lacking  in  prudence  and 
the  appreciation  of  danger,  but  also  that  the  mine  workers  who 
have  no  knowledge  of  English  fall  easy  victims  to  dangers  of  which 
they  are  ignorant.  But  how  are  these  ignorant  mine  laborers  "to 
acquire  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  English  language  to  understand 
orders  given  by  foremen  and  thus  to  be  able  to  protect  themselves 


4^  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

in  the  performance  of  their  duties,"  if  they  are  to  be  permitted  to 
enter  the  mines  and  breakers  at  14  years  of  age,  hundreds  ot  them 
having  never  spent  a  year,  or  even  a  month,  in  a  pubHc  school? 

The  Hazard  Admitted. 

That  mining  is  a  dangerous  occupation  is  not  denied.  In  the 
appellate  court  decision  relative  to  the  employment  of  children  in 
coal  mines  in  Illinois  in  1904  (in  the  case  of  Struthers,  plaintiff  in 
error,  v.  The  People),  the  court  declared  of  the  mine  law  in  that 
state  (page  4) : 

That  employment  in  a  coal  mine  is  classed  by  the  legislature  among 
occupations  dangerous  to  life,  limbs  and  health.  The  tide  and  every  section 
of  the  act  clearly  shows  it.  Minute  provision  is  made  for  the  safety  of 
employees  from  the  moment  they  reach  the  shaft  and  enter  the  cage  to 
descend  to  their  work  until  they  again  reach  the  surface.  It  is  recognized 
that  danger  lurks  around  them,  descending  and  ascending,  in  roadways, 
rooms  and  entries;  wherever  they  may  be  or  go  while  in  the  mine;  danger 
from  breaking  ropes,  falling  rocks,  damp,  dust,  explosions,  poisonous  air 
and  other  things  and  conditions. 

To  this  court  declaration  should  now  be  added  the  following 
utterance  from  Mr.  Roderick.     In  the  report  for  1905  he  says: 

The  dangers  that  menace  the  boys  in  and  about  the  anthracite  breakers 
are  perhaps  more  serious  than  those  that  menace  boys  w'orking  inside  the 
mines. 

From  these  two  authoritative  sources  we  have  the  strongest 
possible  argument  for  the  enactment  of  a  law  in  Pennsylvania  which 
would  make  16  years  the  minimum  age  limit  for  employment  in  or 
about  any  mine,  on  the  ground  that  "coal  mining  is  an  occupation 
dangerous  to  the  life  and  limb  of  those  employed  therein."  (Illinois 
court.) 

If  it  were  true,  as  the  chief  mine  inspector  affirms,  that,  "if  a 
uniform  law,  with  14  years  as  a  minimum,  were  passed,  Pennsyl- 
vania would  lead  all  other  states  and  countries  in  practical  and 
sensible  protective  legislation  on  this  important  question,"  then  we 
would  be  constrained  to  say  that  other  states  and  countries  where 
coal  mines  are  operated  would  sadly  need  reform.  Fortunately  the 
assertion  is  erroneous,  for  lUinois,  Montana  and  Missouri  forbid  the 
employment  of  children  under  16  in  mines,  while  Arizona,  Colorado, 


Child  Labor  in  Anthracite  Coal  Industry  49 

Montana,  Missouri  and  Utah  limit  the  employment  of  children  in 
mines  to  8  hours  in  the  24.  Austria  forbids  the  employment  in 
mines  under  15  years,  while  both  France  and  Germany,  although  not 
having  a  higher  age  limit  for  employment,  require  that  all  chil- 
dren employed  shall  have  completed  the  common  school  course  of 
education. 

Every  advance  in  the  line  of  protective  legislation  carries  with 
it  the  need  for  an  increased  corps  of  officers  to  enforce  the  will 
of  the  commonwealth.  We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Department  of  Mines  has  done  faithful  and  efficient  work  in  Penn- 
sylvania, but  the  magnitude  of  the  field  and  the  defectiveness  of  the 
law  conspire  to  defeat  all  efforts.  Let  the  law  be  so  amended  as 
to  fix  a  reasonable  age  limit,  accompanied  by  educational  qualifica- 
tions, and  the  requirement  of  proof  of  age.  Then  place  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  department  funds  sufficient  to  carry  on  its  work,  and 
we  may  hope  to  see  a  marked  decrease  in  the  sacrifice  of  children  to 
the  production  of  coal. 


OBSTACLES  TO  THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF  CHILD  LABOR 

LEGLSLATION 


By  Mrs.  Florence  Kelley, 
Secretary  National  Consumers'  League. 


Sixty  years  ago  in  England  the  great  obstacle  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  child  labor  legislation,  and  even  to  the  enactment  of  such 
legislation,  was  the  attitude  of  the  cotton  manufacturers  of  that 
kingdom,  who  went  in  delegations  to  Parliament,  and  said,  "Yes, 
there  is  child  labor,  and  it  is  a  good  thing  that  the  children  should 
learn  to  work.  We  are  carrying  on  schools  to  teach  them  to  work. 
Moreover,  it  is  good  for  the  kingdom  that  there  should  be  child 
labor,  for  on  that  rests  the  commercial  supremacy  of  the  nation." 
And  the  only  answer  possible  at  that  time  was  a  purely  theoretical 
statement  that  nothing  can  be  so  important  as  the  life,  the  health 
and  welfare  of  the  children  of  the  nation. 

We  have  not  that  obstacle  in  this  country.  No  great  delega- 
tions of  manufacturers  go  to  Congress,  or  to  any  legislature,  and 
say,  *'Yes,  there  is  child  labor,  and  it  is  a  good  thing  for  the  chil- 
dren, and  for  the  republic."  They  do  not  go  to  Congress  at  all 
on  this  subject,  or  to  any  legislature — not  at  all.  Though  their 
trade  organs  the  great  manufacturers  say:  "there  is  no  child  labor 
in  this  country.  If  there  were  it  would  be  a  bad  thing.  We  do 
not  employ  young  children.  This  is  all  exaggeration."  But  they 
do  employ  children,  and  the  children  are  working  to-night.  I  know 
that  children  six,  seven  and  eight  years  old  work  this  week  in  New 
York  City  tenements  for  reputable  manufacturers.  I  have  seen 
children  in  a  cotton  mill  in  Georgia  whose  employer  told  me  they 
were  ten  years  old,  who  were  wretched  dwarfs  if  they  were  really 
eight  years  old.  That  one  man  frankly  showed  children  at  work 
in  his  mill. 

On  the  whole,  however,  the  entire  attitude  of  the  manufacturing 

(so) 


Obstacles  to  Child  Labor  Legislation  51 

class  has  been  revolutionized  in  sixty  years.  No  one  now  says  that 
it  is  a  good  thing  for  Httle  children  to  work.  The  haggling  now 
is  as  to  whether  a  child  shall  legally  begin  at  twelve,  or  at  fourteen, 
or  at  sixteen  years  to  work. 

It  is  ultimately  the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  nation  that  decides 
whether  child  labor  laws  shall  be  enforced  after  they  are  enacted. 
And  the  attitude  of  mind  has  changed  (as  it  exhibits  itself  in  speech 
and  in  print)  from  the  bold  claim  that  the  commercial  supremacy 
of  England  was  more  important  than  the  welfare  of  the  EngHsh 
race,  to  the  hypocritical  attitude  of  this  country,  that  we  have  not 
the  evil  and,  therefore,  need  do  nothing  about  it.  I  do  not  know 
which  obstacle  to  the  enforcement  of  law  is  more  effective.  The 
obstacle  is  there,  and  our  legislation,  taking  the  country  over,  is 
not  effectively  enforced. 

There  are  three  objective  tests  of  the  enforcement  of  our 
laws.  One  is  the  presence  of  children  in  school.  This  is  now 
being  shown  in  an  interesting  exhibit  of  industrial  conditions  in 
Philadelphia.  There  is  a  chart  showing  the  attendance  of  the 
children  of  Chicago  at  school  in  the  year  1902.  A  small  block 
symbolizes  the  attendance  in  that  year.  For  the  following  year  the 
same  block  repeated  symbolizes  the  attendance;  but  the  next  year, 
1904,  when  the  present  drastic  child  labor  law  of  Illinois  had  taken 
effect,  the  enrollment  in  the  Chicago  schools  of  the  children  of 
compulsory  school  age  trebled.  It  required  three  times  the  original 
block  to  indicate  the  school  attendance  in  the  year  after  that  new 
law  took  effect  and  was  enforced.  That  statute  carried  a  thousand 
children  out  of  the  stockyards  in  a  single  week;  and  later  it  car- 
ried 2,200  children  out  of  the  mines  of  Illinois  in  another  week, 
following  the  decision  of  the  enlightened  judge  of  the  Peoria  dis- 
trict. And  the  increased  school  enrolment  showed  whither  the 
children  went. 

The  second  objective  test  of  the  enforcement  of  child  labor 
laws  is  prosecution.  The  child  labor  law  is  enforced  in  Illinois 
by  persistent  prosecution.  Hundreds  of  employers  have  paid  thou- 
sands of  dollars  in  fines,  and  the  visible  result  of  the  success  of 
those  prosecutions  is  the  presence  of  the  children  of  compulsory 
school  age  in  school.  That  is  an  infallible  test  of  the  effectiveness 
of  the  enforcement  of  the  law  which  prohibits  children  working 
throughout  the  period  of  compulsory  school  attendance. 


J2  The  Anyials  of  the  AinericcDi  Academy 

South  of  Baltimore — south  of  Louisville — there  are  no  prose- 
cutions; there  is  no  compulsory  school  attendance.  In  any  south- 
ern state  to-day  school  attendance  does  not  serve  as  a  test  of  the 
efficiency  of  the  protection  of  the  children,  because  there  are  not 
schools  enough  to  enroll  the  children  if  they  were  all  dismissed 
from  the  mills.  The  test  of  the  presence  of  the  children  in  the 
schools  enough  to  enroll  the  children  if  they  were  all  dismissed 
children.  We  enroll  our  children  in  New  York  City.  I  wish  I 
might  say  that  we  kept- them  in  school.  We  enroll  them,  at  least, 
and  the  enrollment  has  increased  under  the  recent  efficient  enforce- 
ment of  the  law  in  the  factories  by  Commissioner  Sherman.  Even 
where  there  are  not  schools  enough  to  admit  the  children,  we  can 
at  least  enroll  them  so  that  we  may  know  where  they  are,  and  the 
opportunity  to  enroll  them  depends  largely  upon  the  efficiency  of 
the  prosecutions  carried  out  by  the  factory  inspectors. 

The  enforcement  of  the  law  depends  not  only  on  the  quality 
of  the  men  to  whom  the  work  of  enforcing  it  is  entrusted ;  it  de- 
pends far  more  largely  on  the  quality  of  the  community  in  which 
those  men  hold  office.  There  are  few  blacker  chapters  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  republic  than  the  ever-recurring  story  of  removal  of 
efficient  officers  because  they  have  attempted  to  enforce  child  labor 
laws  in  communities  which  were  willing  to  have  those  laws  on  the 
statute  books  so  long  as  they  were  not  enforced,  but  either  repealed 
the  statutes  or  removed  the  officers  as  soon  as  there  was  any  effec- 
tive prosecution. 

There  is  a  brilliant  example  of  this  in  the  history  of  the  City 
of  New  York.  The  mercantile  employees'  law,  when  first  drafted, 
provided  that  the  same  officer  who  enforced  the  law  in  factories 
should  enforce  it  in  the  stores.  But  the  Retail  Dealers'  Association 
of  New  York  City  objected,  and  prevented  the  enactment  of  the 
statute  until  a  compromise  was  achieved.  That  was  in  the  days 
when  we  had  a  very  efficient  inspector  in  office,  the  only  efficient 
one  we  ever  had  before  Mr.  Sherman.  A  compromise  was  achieved, 
and  the  enforcement  of  the  law  in  stores  was  left  to  local  boards  of 
health.  The  Retail  Dealers'  Association  highly  approved  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  leading  philanthropic  merchant  of  New  York  to 
the  position  of  commissioner  of  health.  This  gentleman  said  quite 
frankly  when  he  took  office  that  he  did  not  mean  to  hold  It  long, 


Obstacles  to  Child  Labor  Legislation  53 

that  he  had  only  two  aims  which  he  wished  to  achieve.  One  aim 
was  to  get  free  steriHzed  and  pasteurized  milk  for  the  children  of 
the  tenements ;  the  other  aim  was  to  cut  out  of  the  municipal  budget 
the  appropriation  for  local  inspectors  to  enforce  the  child  labor 
laws  in  stores.  He  achieved  both  these  ends ;  he  cut  out  the  munici- 
pal appropriation  for  the  enforcement  of  the  law  in  stores,  and  he 
established  pasteurized  milk  for  children  in  tenements.  Then  he 
resigned.  His  successor  cut  out  the  pasteurized  milk;  and  then 
we  had  neither  mercantile  inspection  nor  pasteurized  milk.  And  to 
this  day  the  child  labor  law  has  never  been  enforced  in  stores. 
Notice  is  served  upon  the  incoming  commissioner  of  health  by  the 
secretary  of  the  Retail  Dealers'  Association  that  they  do  not  con- 
sider it  desirable  that  the  law  should  be  enforced  in  stores  with 
the  same  rigor  with  which  it  is  enforced  in  factories. 

Two  years  ago  I  saw  one  hundred  and  fifty  children  working 
illegally  at  twenty  minutes  past  ten  o'clock  at  night  in  a  perfectly 
reputable  dry  goods  store  in  the  City  of  New  York  on  the  Satur- 
day night  before  Christmas.  If  one  of  those  children  had  stolen 
any  small  article,  a  doll  or  a  penknife,  the  heavy  hand  of  the  law 
would  have  carried  that  child  promptly  into  the  juvenile  court. 
But  one  hundred  and  fifty  children  were  robbed  of  sleep  in  violation 
of  the  law ;  and  the  merchant,  their  employer  who  robbed  them, 
has  never  been  prosecuted  to  this  day,  and  will  never  be  prosecuted. 
The  community  does  not  insist  that  the  great  in  New  York  City 
shall  obey  the  law  for  the  protection  of  the  children ;  and  no  com- 
missioner.of  health  has  had  the  moral  courage  to  dq  that  which  his 
community  does  not  wish  done. 

While  the  community  in  New  York  does  sustain  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor  in  his  prosecutions  of  manufacturers  who  employ 
children  illegally,  no  commissioner  of  health  has  instituted  proceed- 
ings under  a  similar  law  against  any  merchant  in  the  city  except  in 
the  case  of  one  or  two  obscure  men  down  in  the  lower  East  Side. 

It  is  difficult  to  induce  men  of  high  ability  to  give  up  their 
chosen  occupations  to  take  a  position  which  involves  them  in  an  \ 
oath  that  they  will  enforce  a  law  when  there  is  always  a  sword 
hanging  over  their  heads  if  they  do  enforce  that  law.  If  there  is 
a  great  clamor  in  the  community  by  a  few  people  that  the  law 
shall  be  enforced,  the  temptation  is  terribly  strong  to  enforce  it 


54  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

against  obscure  offenders  violating  it  in  a  small  way,  so  as  to  make 
a  record  of  something  done  without  incurring  powerful  opposition 
for  the  official  or  for  the  law. 

The  third  test  of  the  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  laws  is  the 
published  records  of  the  officials  appointed  to  enforce  them.  The 
friends  of  the  children  are  growing  in  numbers,  but  they  often 
lack  technical  acquaintance  with  the  subject.  It  may  be  said  of 
many  of  us  that  our  intentions  are  good,  but  we  have  never  been 
working  children,  we  have  never  been  employers,  we  have,  perhaps^ 
never  been  teachers  of  working  children,  and  we  do  not  speak  with 
authority.  Then  we  turn  necessarily  to  official  information  on  the 
subject;  and  it  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  interest  of  this  nation 
in  its  working  children  that  most  of  the  carefully-stated  informa- 
tion now  available  is  non-official.  It  is  furnished  by  voluntary 
bodies,  and  can  be  attacked  as  non-official  and  as  amateur.  And 
why? 

Why  is  it  that,  year  after  year,  one  searches  the  reports  of  the 
state  bureaus  of  statistics  (of  which  twenty  or  thirty  volumes  are 
issued),  to  find  perhaps  a  dozen  pages  of  lucid  statement  of  the 
child  labor  conditions  in  some  one  state?  Commissioner  Sherman's 
reports  are  models  of  what  we  pray  that  some  time  we  may  have  in 
all  the  states  in  which  there  is  child  labor. 

From  time  to  time  we  receive  at  the  office  of  the  Consumers' 
League  a  request  to  send  a  full  file  of  official  reports  to  Europe, 
and  we  make  excuses  for  not  doing  so,  for  most  of  them  we  should 
be  ashamed  ta  send.  They  darken  wisdom.  They  do  not  afford 
data  for  valid  comparisons. 

In  the  same  industrial  exhibition  in  Philadelphia,  of  which  I 
spoke,  the  most  conspicuous  objects  are  two  huge  signs  which  tell 
the  story  taken  from  the  official  records  of  Pennsylvania  concern- 
ing enforcement  of  the  child  labor  laws  in  manufacture  and  mer- 
cantile pursuits  in  that  state.  The  latest  available  report  is  dated 
1904,  and  this  is  the  end  of  1906. 

One  of  those  signs  says,  in  large  letters: 

Pennsylvania — Children  Employed,  40,140. 

Children  Illegally  Employed,  3,243. 

Prosecutions,  22. 


Obstacles  to  Chud  Labor  Legislation  55 

The  other  sign  says: 

Pennsylvania — Children  Employed,  40,140. 

Children  Illegally  Employed,  3-243. 

Fines  Imposed,  $750. 

Average  Cost  of  Violation  of  the  Child  Labor  Law  in 

Pennsylvania,  23  Cents. 

Now,  that  is  the  sort  of  information  for  want  of  which  we  are 
not,  on  the  whole,  very  intelligent  about  our  working  children  in 
this  country.  The  National  Consumers'  League,  a  volunteer  philan- 
thropic body,  publishes  every  year  a  Handbook  of  Child  Labor 
Legislation.  Why  is  this  book  left  to  be  published  by  a  volunteer 
body?  Why  does  not  the  United  States  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  publish  it  ?  And  why  has  the  predecessor  of  that  depart- 
ment not  done  so  for  the  past  twenty  years  ?  Why  has  the  handbook 
been  left  to  grow  from  a  little  leaflet  of  four  pages,  five  years  ago,  to 
a  little  pamphlet  of  sixty-four  pages  now,  published  as  a  supplement 
to  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  this  year?  Why  are  the 
American  people  content  to  have  thousands  of  undecipherable  offi- 
cial pages  of  unmeaning  figures  published  year  after  year?  Why 
have  we  endured  being  left  with  no  "official  means  of  ready  com- 
parison >  of  the  statutes  of  the  different  states,  and  the  prosecutions 
of  violations  of  the  child  labor  law  in  the  diflferent  states  ?  Whether 
in  Ohio  it  costs  twenty-three  cents  for  every  violation  of  the  child 
labor  law,  or  twenty-three  dollars,  or  $230,  or  $2,300,  we  do  not 
know.  We  do  not  know  this  for  any  state  unless  we  sit  down  and 
carefully  and  laboriously  make  computations  for  ourselves,  which 
may  then  perhaps  be  in  error. 

These,  I  believe,  are  the  gravest  obstacles  at  the  present  time 
to  the  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  law :  First,  the  general  hypoc- 
risy of  the  American  people,  believing  that  child  labor  is  an  evil, 
and  that,  therefore,  we  do  not  tolerate  it — when  there  are  working 
children  on  the  streets  before  our  eyes,  every  work"ng  day  in  the 
year,  in  every  manufacturing  city.  Second,  the  failure  to  make 
the  work  of  enforcing  the  law  a  desirable  and  recognized  profes- 
sion into  which  the  ablest  men  will  willingly  go.  Leonard  Horner, 
the  first  of  the  English  factory  inspectors,  held  office  thirty-four 
years.'    He  laid  the  foundation  for  factory  inspection  throughout 


v^ 


56  The  A}inals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  world.  His  name  goes  down  in  history  coupled  with  the  name 
of  Lord  Shaftesbury — and  honorably  coupled  with  it.  And  from 
his  day  to  the  present  the  position  of  local  factory  inspector  and 
shop  inspector  is  an  honorable  one  for  which  thoroughly  efficient 
men  eagerly  compete  in  the  English  civil  service.  In  America,  we 
leave  an  inspector  at  the  mercy  of  the  most  influential  man  whom 
it  may  be  his  duty  to  prosecute,  and  at  the  mercy  of  every  tur»  of 
the  political  wheel ;  and  then  we  wonder  that  we  have  not  a  race  of 
noble  martyrs  who  protect  working  children  at  cost  of  their  own 
professional  careers.  And  we  fall  to  thinking  that  there  is  some- 
thing  hopeless  in  the  effort  to  put  better  laws  upon  the  statute  book 
if  then  they  are  to  sleep  upon  its  pages. 

The  trouble  is  with  ourselves.  We  get  exactly  the  sort  of  care 
for  the  children  through  the  officials  that  the  community  deter- 
mines they  shall  have ;  and  we  register  our  indifference  in  accept- 
ing such  printed  records  as  we  have  now,  obscuring  the  actual  con- 
ditions of  the  working  children  in  nearly  all  the  states. 

Where  the  employment  of  children  is  arrested,  as  is  the  case 
effectually  in  Illinois,  partially  in  New  York,  partially  in  Massachu- 
setts, the  records  are  so  clear  that  any  school  child  can  under- 
stand them.  The  ability  which  makes  it  possible  to  arrest  the 
growth  of  child  labor  makes  it  possible  also  to  print  records  which 
we  can  all  read  and  understand  and  use. 

The  next  step  which  we  need  to  take  is  to  insist  that  this  is  a 
national  evil,  and  we  must  have  a  national  law  abolishing  it.  We 
must  also  insist  that  this  is  a  matter  of  great  import  to  the  people 
of  this  country,  that  the  government  must  give  us  information  not 
only  through  a  bureau  for  the  children  in  the  federal  government 
but  through  all  the  existing  departments,  the  Census  Bureau,  the 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  the  Department  of  Education. 
We  must  demand  trustworthy  records  in  our  state  publications, 
so  that  we  shall  not  blush  when  a  request  comes  to  send  a  com- 
plete collection  of  our  records  for  the  use,  for  instance,  of  the 
Austrian  government. 


NATIONAL  PROTECTION  FOR  CHILDREN 


By  Jane  Addams, 
Hull  House,  Chicago,  111. 


It  is  sometimes  a  difficult  matter  to  understand  that  the  federal 
government  should  be  willing  to  spend  time  and  money  to  establish 
and  maintain  departments  relating  to  the  breeding,  to  the  raising, 
to  the  distribution  and  to  the  exportation  of  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs, 
and  that  as  yet  the  federal  government  has  done  nothing  to  see  to 
it  that  the  children  are  properly  protected  up  to  the  time  when  they 
may  go  to  work  without  injury  to  themselves  and  without  injury 
to  the  nation.  This  can  only  be  explained  by  the  attitude  of  the 
founders  of  our  government,  who,  in  their  great  desire  to  keep 
away  from  oppression  and  to  avoid  reproducing  the  tyranny  which 
had  driven  them  from  Europe,  came  to  believe  that  self-govern- 
ernment  could  be  secured  only  through  decentralized  or  local  gov- 
ernment. If  one  would  go  over  the  early  history  of  government  in 
the  L^nited  States  and  the  machinery  devised  to  secure  greater 
freedom,  one  would  find  that  the  founders  constantly  distrusted 
centralized  power  as  a  result  of  the  inheritance  which  they  had 
brought  with  them  and  from  which  they  could  not  escape.  Only 
in  one  direction  did  they  assume  that  a  centralized  government 
was  necessary  and  that  was  in  all  of  those  things  which  pertain  to 
international  relations.  As  modern  life  developed,  those  things  which 
pertained  most  naturally  to  international  relations  were  the  exports 
and  imports  with  their  tarifif  regulations,  and  so  quite  seriously  the 
national  government  took  up  all  of  the  things  connected  with  com- 
merce and  w^ith  its  development  in  every  direction. 

It  seemed  at  last  quite  natural  that  hours  and  hours  of  discus- 
sion in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  should  be  expended  upon 
commercial  questions  because  they  had  to  do  with  the  relations  of 
the  United  States  to  the  world  outside.  It  seemed  quite  right  that 
millions  of  dollars  should  be  spent  that  the  best  sort  of  grain  might 

(57) 


58  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

be  raised  and  carried  to  the  sea  ports ;  that  elaborate  experiment  sta- 
tions should  be  established  upon  the  seashore  that  fish  might  be 
produced  and  protected.  And  during  this  development  at  any 
moment — I  might  say  "at  the  drop  of  a  hat" — the  national  govern- 
ment was  ready  to  go  to  war  in  order  to  protect  the  seal  or  the 
fisheries  interests.  In  the  same  spirit  animal  industries  were  pro- 
tected and  developed  because  cattle  of  the  wxst  were  a  valuable 
national  asset,  soldiers  were  stationed  throughout  the  territories 
that  the  ranchmen  might  be  secure  in  their  efforts  to  enlarge  this 
great  industry,  which  was  national  in  character,  and  which  deter- 
mined in  a  very  large  measure  our  commercial  value  to  European 
nations.  It  was  logical  perhaps  that  the  power  of  the  federal  gov- 
ernment should  develop  so  exclusively  along  commercial  lines,  and 
if  one  may  generalize  from  this  very  superficial  survey,  that  any 
tendency  on  the  part  of  centralized  government,  to  develop  in  other 
directions  should  be  resented  by  a  liberty-loving  people.  This  devel- 
opment along  one  exclusive  line  has,  however,  brought  some  embar- 
rassing results.  For  instance,  quite  lately,  in  Chicago,  when  we 
became  greatly  agitated  in  regard  to  the  question  of  protecting  the 
cattle  after  they  had  been  killed  and  put  into  cans,  the  only  way  we 
could  secure  any  protection  was  by  following  this  same  com- 
mercial line.  The  meat  bill,  I  suppose,  pushed  very  hard  the 
interstate  commerce  clauses  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  It  went 
as  far,  I  imagine,  as  it  possibly  could  and  still  keep  up  the  fiction 
of  having  to  do  with  railroads  and  with  the  transportation  of  goods 
from  one  state  to  another,  starting  and  ending  logically,  of  course, 
with  foreign  exports.  For  it  was  in  the  development  of  interna- 
tional relations,  when  Germany  and  England  insisted  upon  inspec- 
tion, that  the  entire  system  of  meat  inspection  was  developed.  The 
United  States  sagely  enacted  very  stringent  regulations  in  order  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  other  nations,  for  so  long  as  these  regula- 
tions fostered  international  trade,  no  one  objected  to  them.  But 
when  Congress  attempted  to  pass  measures  requiring  the  inspection 
of  meat  as  a  product  which  was  designed  for  domestic  consumption, 
the  legislators  found  it  difficult  both  to  pass  and  to  enforce  the  regu- 
lations which  they  did  not  dream  of  attempting  from  any  other  point 
of  view  than  that  of  interstate  commerce.  A  few  rash  people  thought 
that  the  matter  of  meat  inspection  might  have  been   approached 


National  Protection  for  Children  59 

from  a  praiseworthy  desire  on  the  part  of  the  federal  government  to 
preserve-  American  citizens  from  death  by  poisoning,  although  we  in 
Chicago  were  not  afraid  of  being  poisoned,  for  we  have  eaten 
the  very  worst  stuff  for  years — stuff  which  was  too  bad  to  be  taken 
out  of  the  city  at  all — until  we  considered  ourselves  quite  immune. 
Chicago  citizens  were  glad  to  have  this  meat  bill  passed,  however, 
because  only  through  such  a  stretch  of  power  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment in  its  commercial  relations  could  protection  be  afforded  to  the 
children,  the  women  and  the  men  who  were  working  in  the  stock 
yards.  It  was  possible  to  reach  the  producer  only  through  the 
product,  and  it  was  possible  to  regulate  the  product  only  because 
it  entered  into  interstate  commerce.  The  federal  government  said, 
"O  yes,  we  will  go  along  the  old  path  of  regulating  commerce  and 
if,  incidentally,  we  can  protect  the  women  and  children,  we  will 
do  it.  If  you  ask  us  to  protect  them  directly,  we  will  certainly  say 
no,  for  that  interferes  with  state  rights,  and  we  cannot  possibly 
undertake  such  a  thing." 

There  is  doubtless  a  ray  of  hope  in  this  legislation,  although 
some  of  us  wished  that  this  protection  might  have  been  secured  for 
women  and  children  less  indirectly.  I  will  confess  to  certain  scru- 
ples, that  the  nation  should  have  been  driven  to  secure  sanitation 
in  this  round-a-bout  way,  although  in  certain  instances  it  meant 
only  hot  water  in  which  a  man  may  wash  his  hands  when  they  are 
covered  with  the  blood  of  kine.  Some  of  us  wish  that  the  govern- 
ment might  secure  so  praiseworthy  an  object  in  a  more  direct  way 
than  through  the  Interstate  Commerce  Acts,  but  we  will  take  it  as 
it  comes,  and  we  are  glad  to  have  it  come  through  such  a  measure, 
if  we  can  secure  it  in  no  other  way. 

And  now  comes  Senator,  Beveridge  and  pushes  this  interstate 
commerce  arrangement  one  step  further.  The  meat  b"ll  controls 
the  conditions  surrounding  the  producer  because  it  is  only  through 
control  of  these  conditions  that  we  can  secure  a  product  clean  and 
wholesome  enough  for  interstate  commerce,  and  Senator  Beveridge 
says  that  it  is  only  by  protecting  the  child,  by  not  permitting  him 
to  work  until  he  is  fourteen,  that  we  can  produce  a  product  that 
is  moral  enough,  that  is  decent  enough,  that  is  righteous  enough,  to 
enter  into  interstate  commerce.  If  we  have  government  in  which 
human  welfare  is  not  to  be  considered  as  an  object  of  direct  govern- 


6o  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

mental  action,  and  if  we  possess  a  well-rooted  objection  to  humane 
legislation,  I  think  we  may  congratulate  ourselves  that  there  have 
arisen  in  our  midst  men  who  are  clever  enough  to  "tackle"  the  ques- 
tion of  human  welfare  through  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act?.  Per- 
haps when  we  look  at  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  we  may  be  able  to 
see  that  this,  after  all,  is  the  most  American  way  to  get  at  the 
matter. 

What  are  we  most  interested  in,  in  this  country?  Along  which 
line  do  our  blood  and  sinew  and  our  imaginations  and  our  hopes 
and  our  desires  develop?  I  think  that  we  would  all  agree  that  it 
is  along  the  line  of  industry  and  commerce,  and  that  it  is  exactly 
here  that  American  children  have  suffered  in  so  far  as  they  have 
been  put  to  premature  toil,  because  our  commercial  and  industrial 
life  has  been  so  ruthless  and  so  self-centered  that  it  has  never  given 
them  a  thought.  To  have  this  labor  of  children  protected  and  regu- 
lated through  legislation  which,  in  its  inception,  was  designed  solely 
in  the  interests  of  commercial  advancement,  is  perhaps  a  case  of 
poetic  justice — an  instance  of  the  return  of  the  deed  upon  the  head 
of  the  doer — of  the  punishment  fitted  to  the  crime,  as  it  were.  Some 
of  us  who  are  members  of  this  convention  had  dreamed  that  the 
regulation  of  the  labor  of  children  might  come  through  educational 
agencies,  that  it  might  be  fostered  through  a  federal  bureau  of 
education  or  a  bureau  dedicated  to  all  the  children  of  the  nation,  as 
other  bureaus  are  dedicated  to  the  interests  of  cattle  and  grain,  but 
apparently  it  is  destined  to  come  another  way,  and  we  will  protect 
the  children  through  the  products  in  which  their  labor  is  embodied, 
as  w^e  have  protected  the  stock  yards  worker  through  the  goods 
which  he  has  put  into  cans.  However,  we  may  in  time  be  justly 
proud,  if  we  can  say  that  no  American  product  enters  into  foreign 
or  domestic  commerce  which  does  not  represent  the  free  labor 
quality  of  an  educated  producer  who  is  exercising  his  adult  powers. 
At  any  rate,  we  will  be  thankful  that  at  last  there  is  a  prospect  of 
national  regulation  of  a  national  evil. 


THE  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY 


By  Hon.  J.  H.  Morgan, 
Chief  Inspector  of  Workshops  and  Factories  in  the   State  of  Ohio. 


Six  great  states  lie  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  River,  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio,  West  Mrginia,  Kentucky,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and 
we  behold,  for  its  full  length,  from  Pittsburg  to  Cairo,  and  stretch- 
ing in  either  direction,  a  continuous  line  of  shops  and  factories.  The 
wheels  are  buzzing  and  the  stacks  are  belching  forth  great  volumes 
of  smoke  day  and  night,  for  many  plants  do  not  stop  even  for  the 
Sabbath  day.  And,  in  passing,  I  would  say  I  believe  this  to  be  a 
great  menace  to  our  American  institutions.  ]\Ten  who  have  regard 
for  God  and  the  Sabbath  are 'not  so  likely  to  go  wrong  in  their 
dealings  with  their  fellowmen.  Strange  it  is  that  in  this  great 
country,  and  in  this  century,  we  have  men  who,  in  their  individual 
characters,  seem  to  be  above  reproach,  but  as  captains  of  industry 
resort  to  chicanery  and  false  principles  in  their  conduct  of  business. 
If  the  Golden  Rule  instead  of  the  rule  of  gold  were  their  guide  in 
industrial  life,  we  would  have  no  need  for  child  labor  laws. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  industries  pursued  in  these  neigh- 
boring states  are  very  similar,  but  the  laws  governing  the  employ- 
ment of  minors  in  them  are  dissimilar  in  many  respects.  This 
variance  in  the  laws  makes  it  more  difficult  to  enforce  the  provisions 
along  the  border  lines  than  in  the  interior  of  the  states ;  the  burden, 
of  course,  falling  upon  those  having  the  more  stringent  laws.  We 
find,  too,  that  public  sentiment  in  such  districts  is  generally  with 
the  state  having  less  stringent  laws. 

I  would  say  that  such  comparisons  as  I  may  make  of  the  laws 
of  the  different  states  are  not  made  in  a  spirit  of  unfriendly  criti- 
cism, but  with  a  view  of  bringing  out  the  facts  pointedly  to  show 
the  great  need  of  a  uniform  law  that  is  at  once  practical  and 
enforceable,  for  we  must  consider  what  is  enforceable  as  well  as 
what  is  practical.    Public  sentiment  must  support  the  law  in  order 

(6i) 


62  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

that  it  may  be  successfully  enforced;  otherwise  the  department 
under  whose  jurisdiction  it  is  placed  will  either  become  derelict  in 
its  duty  by  not  enforcing  its  provisions,  or,  through  rigid  enforce- 
ment, in  spite  of  adverse  sentiment,  cause  the  repeal  or  radical 
amendment  of  the  law.  It  is  better,  then,  to  progress  slowly  and 
surely  than  to  run  the  risk  of  losing  much  by  forcing  a  law  on  the 
people  that  is  too  far  in  advance  of  public  sentiment.  This,  how- 
ever, need  not  prevent  our  having  our  ideal  law  on  a  much  higher 
plane,  nor  keep  us  from  doing  our  best  to  create  public  sentiment 
to  that  standpoint.  Simply  because  we  have  a  good  law,  it  is  no 
reason  we  should  stop  there. 

Indiana,  Illinois,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  occupy  common 
ground  in  providing  that  children  under  the  age  of  fourteen  years 
shall  not  be  employed  in  workshops,  factories,  mercantile  or  other 
establishments  at  any  time.  In  West  Virginia  the  age  is  fourteen 
during  the  school  term,  which,  in  at  least  half  the  counties,  is  not 
more  than  five  months  in  the  year.  During  the  remainder  of  the 
year  minors  may  be  employed  at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  In  Ken- 
tucky the  age  for  factory,  shop,  mill  and  mine  is  fourteen  years ; 
this  age  also  applies  to  mercantile  establishments,  telegraph,  tele- 
phone and  messenger  service,  laundries  and  printing  establishments, 
except  during  vacation  of  the  public  schools,  when  there  is  no  age 
limit  for  this  class  of  work.  This,  therefore,  is  the  common  ground 
on  which  all  of  the  so-called  Ohio  Valley  states  meet,  for  while  it 
is  true  that  two  of  the  states  have  made  certain  exceptions  to  the 
fourteen-year  limit,  it  is  good  to  know  that  we  agree  on  the  prin- 
ciple, and  that  we  may  look  forward,  and  at  no  distant  day,  to  see 
these  two,  as  well  as  every  other  state  in  the  Union,  say  to  the 
workshops  and  factories,  "You  cannot  rob  the  schoolhouse  nor  the 
playground  of  any  child  under  the  age  of  fourteen  years  at  any 
time." 

Having  seen,  with  two  exceptions,  that  we  agreed  to  fourteen 
years  being  young  enough  for  a  child  to  leave  school  to  become 
little  old  men  and  women  by  becoming  breadwinners,  let  us  look  at 
some  of  the  special  provisions  which  have  been  passed  governing 
night  work  and  other  conditions.  West  Virginia  has  no  restrictions 
on  night  work,  which  means  that  children  twelve  years  of  age  may 
be  employed  to  work  at  night  during  the  six  or  seven  months  that 


Child  Labor  Laws  of  the  Ohio  Valley  63 

the  public  schools  are  not  in  session.  Kentucky  prohibits  boys  and 
girls  under  sixteen  years  of  age  from  working  later  than  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening  or  earlier  than  six  in  the  morning.  Penn- 
sylvania prohibits  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  from  being 
employed  later  than  nine  in  the  evening  or  earlier  than  six  in  the 
morning,  with  the  exception,  however,  that  boys  over  fourteen  may, 
in  certain  industries,  work  at  night,  but  the  work  hours  in  such 
cases  are  not  to  exceed  nine  in  number.  The  laws  of  Illinois  pro- 
hibit boys  and  girls  under  sixteen  from  working  between  the  hours 
of  seven  in  the  evening  and  seven  in  the  morning.  The  State  of 
Indiana  prohibits  the  employment  of  her  women  and  girls  from 
ten  at  night  until  six  in  the  morning;  her  boys,  however,  may  be 
employed  at  night  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  the  same  as  during  the 
day.  In  Ohio  boys  under  sixteen  and  girls  under  eighteen  are  pro- 
hibited from  working  later  than  seven  in  the  evening  and  earlier 
than  six  in  the  morning. 

West  Virginia  has  no  limit  as  to  the  number  of  hours  a  minor 
may  work  in  a  day  or  week.  Kentucky  restricts  minors  under  the 
age  of  sixteen  years  from  working  more  than  ten  hours  a  day  or 
more  than  sixty  hours  in  a  week.  Pennsylvania  prohibits  females 
and  boys  under  sixteen  years  from  working  more  than  twelve  hours 
in  any  one  day  or  more  than  sixty  hours  in  one  week.  Indiana 
prohibits  girls  under  twenty-one  and  boys  under  eighteen  from 
working  more  than  ten  hours  a  day  or  more  than  sixty  hours  a 
week.  The  Illinois  law  provides  that  no  minor  under  the  age  of 
sixteen  years  shall  be  employed  more  than  eight  hours  in  any  one 
day  nor  more  than  forty-eight  hours  in  one  week.  In  Ohio  minors 
under  the  age  of  eighteen  years  are  prohibited  from  working  more 
than  ten  hours  in  one  day  or  more  than  fifty-five  hours  in  one  week. 
The  purpose  for  which  the  fifty-five  hour  clause  in  the  Ohio  law 
was  enacted  has  not,  in  the  main,  been  fully  realized.  It  was  to 
provide  for  the  Saturday  half-holiday.  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
better  results  would  be  secured  if  we  could  have  each  day's  work 
stand  for  itself.  When  the  inspector  visits  a  factory  in  the  middle 
of  the  week,  he  ought  not  to  be  required  to  determine  what  the 
effect  of  the  work  hours  of  that  day  will  be  in  the  sum  total  several 
days  hence,  and  besides,  it  is  out  of  the  question  for  him  to  be  at 
very  many  places  on  Saturday  at  noon  to  see  whether  the  law  is 
violated  or  not.    One  factory  will  work  nine  hours  each  day  of  the 


64  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

week,  and  another  ten  hours  for  five  days,  and  five  on  one  day,  and 
both  factories  will  comply  with  the  law  in  so  doing.  To  be  effec- 
tive each  day  should  stand  for  itself  and  define  clearly  the  number 
of  hours  a  day  required,  which,  in  my  opinion,  should  not  be  more 
than  eight  for  boys,  girls  and  women.  No  good  reason  can  be 
given  for  taking  a  mortgage  on  our  future  citizenship  by  employing 
minors  and  their  mothers  for  long  hours  in  workshops  and  factories. 

West  Virginia  has  no  restrictions  applying  to  employment  of 
minors  at  dangerous  machinery.  Kentucky  provides  that  no  child 
under  sixteen  years  of  age  shall  operate  an  elevator,  or  sew  or 
assist  in  sewing  belts.  In  Indiana  boys  under  sixteen  and  girh 
under  eighteen  are  prohibited  from  operating  dangerous  machinery, 
and  no  person  under  eighteen  is  allowed  to  operate  an  elevator.  In 
Illinois,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  the  laws  prevent  minors  under  the 
age  of  sixteen  years  from  operating  dangerous  machinery,  including 
elevators.  While  the  Ohio  law  prevents  the  employment  of  minors 
under  sixteen  at  dangerous  machinery  or  where  their  health  is  likely 
to  be  injured  or  their  morals  depraved,  it  does  not  specify  what 
machinery  is  dangerous,  nor  in  what  kinds  of  establishments  their 
health  is  likely  to  be  injured  or  their  morals  depraved.  I  would, 
therefore,  recommend  the  passage  of  the  Illinois  law,  which  specifies 
these  occupations,  but  would  add  to  that  list  the  handling  and  manu- 
facture of  tobacco  and  all  places  where  intoxicating  liquors  are 
manufactttred  and  sold. 

Minors  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  may  not  be  employed  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  unless  they  furnish  an  age  and  schooling 
cirtificite,  properly  issued,  showing  that  they  can  read  and  write 
simple  sentences  in  the  English  language.  The  same  law  applies  in 
Indiana,  unless  the  child  is  blind,  and  except  for  employment  in 
vacation.  In  Illinois  illiterates  under  the  age  of  sixteen  may  not 
be  employed  unless  they  attend  day  or  night  school  during  employ- 
ment. The  English  language,  however,  is  not  specified.  West 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  have  no  educational  requirement. 

You  will  note  there  is  not  so  much  uniformity  in  the  laws  of 
these  states  governing  night  work  and  the  number  of  work  hours 
in  a  day  and  week,  and  therefore  there  is  greater  difficulty  in 
enforcing  these  provisions  along  the  border  lines  of  the  states.  The 
laws  governing  employment  at  dangerous  machinery  are  very 
similar,  and,  with  the  exception  of  West  Virginia,  which  has  no 


Child  Labor  Laws  of  the  Ohio  Valley  65 

provision  whatever,  this  group  of  states  has  practically  agreed  that 
sixteen  years  is  the  lowest  age  at  which  the  responsibility  of  oper- 
ating dangerous  machinery  can  be  placed  with  any  degree  of  safety. 
There  is  also  more  uniformity  regarding  the  educational  require- 
ments. 

In  all  these  states  the  compulsory  education  laws  dovetail  into 
the  child  labor  laws,  and  require  that  the  child  shall  attend  school 
the  entire  school  year,  which,  in  some  states,  is  entirely  too  short. 
There  is  one  section  of  our  Ohio  school  law  which  is  especially 
worthy  of  consideration  in  connection  with  a  discussion  of  this 
subject.     It  reads  as  follows: 

Sections  4022-9.  (Relief  to  enable  child  to  attend  school  required  time.) 
When  any  truant  officer  is  satisfied  that  any  child,  compelled  to  attend 
school  by  the  provisions  of  this  act,  is  unable  to  attend  school  because  abso- 
lutely required  to  work,  at  home  or  elsewhere,  in  order  to  support  itself  or 
help  support  or  care  for  others  legally  entitled  to  its  services,  who  are  unable 
to  support  or  care  for  themselves,  the  truant  officer  shall  report  the  case  to 
the  authorities  charged  with  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  said  officers  to  afford  such  relief  as  will  enable  the  child  to  attend  school 
the  time  each  year  required  under  this  act.  Such  child  shall  not  be  considered 
or  declared  a  pauper  by  reason  of  the  acceptance  of  the  relief  herein  provided 
for.  In  case  the  child,  or  its  parent  or  guardian,  refuse  or  neglect  to  take 
advantage  of  the  provisions  thus  made  for  its.  instruction,  such  child  may  be 
committed  to  a  children's  home  or  juvenile  reformatory,  as  provided  for  in 
sections  4022-9  of  the  revised  statutes  of  Ohio.  In  all  cases  where  relief  is 
necessary  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  board  of  education  to  furnish  textbooks 
free  of  charge,  and  said  board  may  furnish  any  further  relief  it  may  deem 
necessary,  the  expense  incident  to  furnishing  said  books  and  the  relief  to  be 
paid  from  the  contingent  funds  of  the  school  district. 

The  operation  of  this  law  would  practically  mean  public  school 
pension,  provided  by  taxation,  for  those  who  are  entitled  to  it,  in 
order  that  we  may  have  an  educated,  though  poor,  people. 

You  will  observe  there  is  a  wide  range  in  the  requirements  of 
the  laws  of  these  six  states,  from  the  one  allowing  children  of 
twelve  years  to  be  employed  more  than  half  the  year,  without  any 
restrictions  whatever  relative  to  the  number  of  work  hours,  danger- 
ous machinery,  night  work  or  educational  requirements,  to  the  law 
which,  when  rigidly  enforced,  practically  raises  the  age  to  sixteen 
and  eighteen  years,  with  restrictions  even  then  as  to  the  number  of 
work  hours. 


66  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

It  is  no  wonder,  then,  with  this  great  divergence  in  the  laws 
governing  the  employment  of  minors,  that  we  hear  manufacturers 
threaten  to  move  their  factories  to  states  where  they  are  shown 
more  consideration.  And  what  does  this  mean,  except  that  manu- 
facturers who  can  make  use  of  child  labor  are  not  averse  to  the  bar- 
gain-hunting fever,  and  are  willing  to  move  their  entire  plants  across 
the  borders  into  states  whose  less  stringent  laws  heap  the  bargain 
counters  with  thousands  of  children  whose  labor  is  a  great  money- 
saving  and  dividend-producing  factor  ?  Whatever  other  inducements 
localities  or  states  have  to  ofifer  industrial  enterprises,  the  sacrifice  of 
childhood  should  not  be  added.  I  do  not  say  this  from  a  sentimental 
standpoint  alone,  but  rather  from  the  selfish  point  of  view  that  our 
states  and  the  Union  must  be  preserved  and  their  future  assured  by 
protecting  the  children  who  are  too  young  to  realize  how  much 
depends  upon  them.  This  alone  should  be  incentive  enough  to  all 
patriotic  people  to  not  only  insure  their  hearty  support  of  such  child 
labor  legislation  as  we  have,  but  to  demand  better  from  time  to 
time.  I  do  not  mean  that  children  should  be  encouraged  in  idleness, 
but  that  they  should  not  be  deprived  of  their  playtime,  nor  the 
opportunity  of  growing  into  well-developed  and  healthy  young  men 
and  women,  capable  of  assuming  and  discharging  the  duties  that 
will  devolve  upon  them. 

There  are  those  who  advocate  and  believe  that  sixteen  years 
should  be  the  minimum  age  when  a  child  should  be  allowed  to  begin 
to  work,  and  there  are  many  good  reasons  that  can  be  advanced 
favoring  such  legislation.  But  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  general 
welfare  of  all,  remembering  that  state  laws  apply  to  the  small  cities 
and  towns  and  to  the  rural  districts,  as  well  as  to  the  large  cities.  I 
am  not  sure  but  what,  if  our  state  constitutions  would  permit,  it 
would  be  a  very  good  plan  to  have  a  general  law  applicable  to  the 
entire  state,  and  then  vest  the  cities  with  authority  to  pass  such 
ordinances  in  advance  of  the  state  laws  as  public  sentiment  would 
support.  As  I  have  said  before,  it  is  well  to  have  an  ideal  law  as 
a  goal,  but  we  must  be  careful  about  forcing  too  radical  a  law  on 
the  people,  especially  as  it  could  not,  in  all  probability,  be  passed 
in  adjacent  territory. 

Industrially,  as  well  as  geographically,  we  of  the  Ohio  Valley 
are  one  people,  and  our  laws  should  be  uniform,  not  only  that  they 


Child  Labor  Laws  of  the  Ohio  Valley  6y 

may  be  the  easier  enforced,  but  in  justice  to  the  manufacturers  who 
pursue  the  same  industries  in  the  several  states,  and  therefore  come 
into  close  competition  one  with  another.  I  should  not,  however,  be 
willing  to  see  any  state  lower  its  present  standard  to  secure  this 
uniformity  of  law,  and  do  not  believe  it  will  be  necessary.  To  be 
effective,  the  child  labor  law  should  be  simple,  practical  and  en- 
forceable, and  I  present  the  following  as  a  good  working  foundation 
upon  which  to  build: 

1.  No  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  shall  be  employed, 
regardless  as  to  time,  occupation  or  conditions. 

2.  Boys  under  sixteen  and  girls  under  eighteen  years  of  age 
shall  not  be  employed  after  7  p.  m.  nor  before  6  a.  m.,  nor  at  any 
occupation  that  is  dangerous  to  life,  injurious  to  health  or  likely 
to  deprave  morals.  (The  list  of  occupations  should  be  stated  clearly 
in  the  statute,  and  made  to  include  all  places  where  intoxicating 
beverages  are  manufactured  or  sold,  as  well  as  all  the  tobacco 
industries.) 

3.  Minors  under  eighteen  years  of  age  shall  not  be  employed 
for  a  longer  period  than  eight  hours  in  any  one  day,  nor  more  than 
forty-eight  hours  in  one  week. 

4.  Minors  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  eighteen  years 
shall  present  age  and  schooling  certificates  issued  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  superintendents  of  public  schools,  same  to  be  kept  on 
file  in  the  office  of  the  establishment  where  employed- 

5.  A  child  desiring  a  certificate  must  appear  before  the  super- 
intendent of  schools,  accompanied  by  one  of  his  parents,  or  a  guar- 
dian, who  shall  have  an  employment  slip  certifying  that  the  child 
has  work  to  go  to,  and  who  shall  also  be  required  to  certify  that  the 
child's  wages  are  necessary  for  his  support.  The  superintendent 
shall  be  authorized  to  inquire  into  the  facts,  and  if  in  doubt  as  to 
the  worthiness  of  the  claimant,  shall  refuse  the  certificate,  and 
require  the  attendance  of  the  child  at  school.  If  the -certificate  is 
granted,  the  child  shall  be  required  to  sign  it  in  his  own  handwriting 
in  order  that  it  may  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  verification. 

6.  Employers  of  minors  between  fourteen  and  eighteen  years 
of  age  shall  keep  a  register  containing  the  name,  age,  birthplace  and 
residence  of  every  such  minor,  same  to  be  open  to  the  inspection  of 
authorized  officers. 


68  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

7.  The  inspector  shall  have  authority  to  take  any  child  into 
custody,  or  require  it  to  leave  the  establishment,  in  the  event  of  his 
refusal  to  give  name  and  age  when  there  is  reasonable  ground  for 
doubt  as  to  the  child's  being  of  legal  age. 

8.  A  physical  standard  should  be  required  as  well  as  a  mental. 
I  would  also  suggest  that  the  compulsory  education  laws  be 

enforced  by  state  officers  instead  of  local,  and  that  these  state  officers 
be  required  to  enforce  all  the  provisions  of  the  child  labor  and  com- 
pulsory school  laws,  and  to  thoroughly  investigate  any  cases  which 
would  come  within  the  provisions  of  the  public  school  pension  fund, 
mention  of  which  has  previously  been  made.  These  pensions  should 
be  paid  only  on  the  order  of  the  chief  inspector  and  the  secretary 
of  the  state  board  of  charities,  and,  when  countersigned  by  the 
commissioner  of  common  schools,  the  fund  would  thus  be  protected 
from  those  unworthy. 

It  is  my  opinion,  too,  that  the  age  and  schooling  certificates 
should  be  issued  from  one  central  source,  and  not,  as  in  some  states, 
by  any  person  who  chances  along,  including  the  chief  factory  inspec- 
tor and  his  entire  force,  the  school  superintendents,  teachers  and 
notaries  public.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  we  have  had  some 
rather  peculiar  experiences  in  this  matter,  I  am  still  inclined  to 
believe  that  the  superintendent  of  public  schools  is  the  one  best 
qualified  to  have  supervision  over  the  issuing  of  certificates.  The 
only  place  where  I  think  discretionary  power  should  be  vested  in 
any  of  this  work  is  with  the  superintendent,  when,  if  in  his  judgment, 
the  best  interests  of  the  child  will  be  subserved,  and  the  home  condi- 
tions will  warrant  it,  he  should  have  the  authority  to  refuse  a  certifi- 
cate, even  though  the  child  is  past  fourteen  years  of  age.  This  is 
my  reason  for  requiring  one  or  the  other  of  the  parents,  or  a  guar- 
dian, to  accompany  the  child,  so  that  the  superintendent  may  get 
the  facts.  The  only  danger  is  that  this  power  might  be  abused 
where  a  superintendent  were  financially  interested  in  a  factory  or 
workshop,  or  where  a  board  of  education  would  be,  and  exert  an 
influence  over  the  superintendent. 

In  this  connection  it  might  not  be  out  of  place  to  refer  to  some 
cases  we  have  found.  We  have  taken  up  certificates  on  the  face  of 
which  it  was  shown  that  the  ages  were  furnished  by  friends  or 
neighbors.     In  one  case  a  mere  statement  was  made  that  the  five 


Child  Labor  Lazvs  of  the  Ohio  Valley  69 

boys,  whose  names  were  not  given,  were  qualified  to  work.  THis, 
too,  in  face  of  the  fact  that  every  superintendent  of  schools  and 
board  of  education  has  been  supplied  with  a  copy  of  the  certificate 
formulated  by  the  commissioner  of  common  schools  in  accordance 
with  the  law.  This  condition  is  not  general,  however,  and  I  am  glad 
to  say  that  our  superintendents  of  public  schools  are  taking  more 
interest  in  this  matter  than  in  former  years,  and  giving  us  their 
support  in  the  work. 

I  sincerely  believe  the  Ohio  law  should  be  amended  so  that 
parents  or  guardians  could  be  prosecuted  for  falsifying  as  to  the 
age  of  minors,  for  until  parents  and  guardians  are  made  to  under- 
stand that  they  are  just  as  liable  to  prosecution  as  the  employers, 
we  will  have  more  or  less  trouble  with  this  particular  feature  of  the 
law.  A  great  help  in  this  direction  would  be  the  passage  of  a  law 
requiring  the  reporting  of  vital  statistics,  which,  when  available, 
would  insure  the  employer  against  those  people  who  will  even 
perjure  themselves  to  secure  work.  It  would,  of  course,  be  years 
before  any  benefit  could  be  derived  from  such  records,  but  if  we 
fail  to  make  a  beginning,  we  never  shall  have  any  corroborative 
evidence.  One  of  the  chief  elements  of  success  in  any  law  is  the 
enforcement  thereof.  It  has  long  ago  been  learned  that  a  social 
evil  is  not  remedied  merely  by  making  it  illegal.  Each  of  these  six 
states  has  departments  organized  whose  duty  it  is  to  enforce  these 
laws,  but  very  few  of  them  have  anything  like  an  adequate  force  of 
inspectors  to  perform  the  work  in  the  creditable  manner  which 
should  be  required.  I  know  this  is  true  of  Ohio,  and  while  we  have 
had  some  severe  and  unfair  criticism,  my  only  surprise  is  that  we 
have  fared  as  well  as  we  have,  considering  how  few  people  have  any 
conception  of  the  magnitude  of  the  work  performed  by  the  Ohio 
department.  One  of  the  great  needs  in  Ohio,  and  I  doubt  not  in 
other  states  as  well,  is  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  inspectors, 
a  fair  percentage  of  whom  should  be  good,  competent  women.  The 
true  woman,  in  the  factory  as  elsewhere,  is  modest,  and  it  can  be 
readily  appreciated  that  if  abuses  are  practiced  that  not  half  the 
story  will  be  told  to  a  man.  A  woman's  wrongs  will  be  more  plainly 
told  and  effectually  to  one  of  her  own  sex. 

The  character  of  the  work  of  these  departments  is  such  that 
men  and  women  should  neither  be  appointed  nor  retained  in  the 


70  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

service  who  are  not  in  hearty  accord  with  the  work,  and  fully  com- 
petent to  fulfil  the  duties  imposed  upon  them.  The  tenure  of  office 
should  be  assured  against  political  or  powerful  influences,  and 
officials  should  be  upheld  for  performing  their  duty  in  enforcing 
the  law. 

It  is  not  enough  to  enact  laws.  The  work  is  then  but  half  done. 
We  must  have  officers  whose  special  duty  it  is  to  see  that  the  laws 
are  enforced,  and  they  must  be  backed  up  by  an  enlightened  and 
enthusiastic  public  sentiment  in  order  to  secure  the  best  results. 
This  work  of  creating  public  sentiment  favorable  to  the  passage  and 
enforcement  of  good  laws  can  only  be  accomplished  through  the 
combined  efforts  of  such  organizations  as  the  National  Child  Labor 
Committee,  the  Consumers'  League,  the  trades  unions,  and  the  whole 
backed  up  by  the  Christian  influence  of  the  church. 

The  Great  Teacher  called  a  little  child  unto  Him,  and  set  him 
in  their  midst,  saying,  "whosoever  shall  receive  one  of  such  children 
in  My  name,  receiveth  Me ;  .  .  .  and  whosoever  shall  offend  one 
of  these  little  ones  that  believe  in  Me,  it  is  better  for  him  that  a 
millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck  and  that  he  were  cast  into  the 
depth  of  the  sea."  May  the  American  people  rise  in  their  might, 
throw  oflf  the  millstone,  and  be  able  to  say,  as  did  the  Roman  mother 
of  old,  "These  are  my  jewels." 


THE  CHILD  LABOR  SITUATION  IN  OHIO  AND 
BORDER  STATES 


By  Wallace  E.  Miller, 
Secretary  of  Ohio   State  Child  Labor  Committee. 


The  extent  of  child  labor  in  Ohio  and  border  states  is  not 
known  in  detail.  Therefore,  in  respect  of  the  number  of  children 
employed  in  factories,  mines  and  elsewhere  we  have  to  content 
ourselves  with  general  statements.  It  is  apparently  true  that  child 
labor  exists  in  greatest  degree  in  our  industrial  centers  and  in  our 
greater  towns.  However,  it  is  also  true  that  juvenile  labor  abounds 
away  from  these  industrial  centers  and  larger  towns  to  an  increasing 
extent.  Factories  of  various  kinds  are  coming  more  and  more  to 
be  located  in  rural  places.  The  causes  for  it  I  will  not  discuss  here. 
One  result  of  this  movement  of  the  factory  away  from  the  large 
town  is  better  control  on  the  part  of  the  employer  of  his  labor  force, 
due  partly  to  isolation  from  disturbing  influences,  and  due  to  the 
fact  that  he  may  have  moved  into  the  vicinity  of  a  new  supply  of 
labor.  Practically  every  boy  and  girl  of  the  wage-earning  classes 
can  work  and  does  work  at  some  gainful  occupation  during  some 
part  of  the  year. 

The  demand  for  labor  of  all  kinds  is  so  great  and,  taken  gen- 
erally, so  much  in  excess  of  the  supply  that  it  is  not  difficult  for  any 
boy  or  girl  to  get  work  to  do  if  he  or  she  wishes  to.  Much  of  this 
is  work  that  is  not  harmful  to  the  young  worker,  but  it  is  inevitable 
that  some  toil  in  places  where  they  should  not  and  at  times  when 
they  should  be  at  home,  in  school,  or  at  play.  I  believe  there  are 
many  more  rural  factories  now  than  there  were  ten  years  ago. 
These  factories  are  accessible  to  a  large  part  of  our  rural  youth, 
and  the  rural  youth  do  find  their  way  to  them.  Everywhere  one 
hears  from  the  farming  population  complaints  as  to  the  scarcity  of 
labor  that  may  be  hired;  that  all  the  young  people  seem  to  have 
gone  to  some  factory.     The  consequence  is  that  often  the  boy  is 

(71) 


72  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

doing  a  man's  work  on  the  much  approved  farm  and  drawing  for 
it  nearly  a  man's  pay. 

Another  cause  for  child  labor  is  the  haste  of  the  wage-earning 
classes  to  get  as  large  a  share  as  possible  of  the  prevailing  pros- 
perity, to  get  money  to  spend  for  the  things  that  give  satisfaction; 
in  short,  as  one  speaker  has  well  said,  to  get  more  life.  This  desire, 
this  greed  of  money  getting,  affects  the  small  getters  quite  as  much 
and  with  as  great  harmfulness  as  it  does  those  of  their  elders,  who 
are  amassing  or  attempting  to  amass  colossal  fortunes. 

In  this  greediness  it  is  inevitable  that  some  selfish  or  lazy 
parents  should  try  to  shoulder  some  of  the  burden  of  the  support 
of  the  family  upon  shoulders  too  young  and  tender  to  bear  it.  And 
it  is  this  that  a  good  child  labor  law  prevents. 

Turning  now  from  these  apparent  economic  causes  of  child 
labor  in  the  Ohio  Valley  states,  let  us  observe  that  the  Ohio  Valley 
states,  that  is,  those  comprising  the  country  drained  by  the  Ohio 
River,  have  similar  industries.  In  fact,  situated  as  they  are,  and 
with  their  well  known  natural  resources,  it  is  difficult  to  name  an 
industry  found  in  one  state  that  is  not  found  in  the  other  states 
drained  by  the  Ohio  River. 

Whatever  national  law  is  passed,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the 
states  will  continue  to  have  laws  regulating  their  own  local  indus- 
tries in  respect  to  child  labor.  Whatever  is  done  by  the  national 
government,  local  conditions  will  be  dealt  with  by  the  local  or  state 
legislature.  This  must  be  so,  since  the  states  present  so  great  a 
variance  of  industrial  conditions.  We  have  almost  as  many  sets  of 
conditions  as  we  have  states,  but  it  seems  to  some  of  us  highly 
desirable  that  states  having  similar  industries  should  have  similar 
child  labor  regulations.  Especially  is  this  desirable  where  two 
states  with  similar  industries  border  upon  each  other. 

An  industrial  map  of  the  United  States  would  not  regard 
political  boundaries,  for  our  coal  beds  were  laid  down  ages  before 
there  was  any  society  to  be  divided  politically;  our  cotton  industry 
is  located  according  to  climate  and  the  nature  of  the  soil,  and  not 
according  to  political  boundaries;  forest-covered  areas,  wheat- 
growing  areas,  cattle-raising  areas,  ore-bearing  areas  are  defined 
by  lines  that  do  not  correspond  to  those  drawn  by  government. 
With  the  exception  of  the  water  courses,  rivers  and  lakes,  natural 
lines  have  had  nothifig  to  do  with  the  division  of  the  country  into 


Situation  in  Ohio  and  Border  States  73 

states.  Our  state  boundaries  may,  therefore,  be  said  to  be  arbitrary, 
and  this  arbitrariness  is  reflected  in  the  state  regulations  of  industry. 
In  a  sense  child  labor  laws  share  in  this  imposed  arbitrary  nature  of 
legislation. 

This  condition  of  afifairs  is  creating  confusion  in  the  enforce 
ment  of  the  child  labor  laws  where  such  laws  exist.  Where  two 
states  lie  side  by  side,  the  one  with  a  good  child  labor  law,  the  other 
with  a  poor  one  or  none  at  all,  it  is  difficult  in  the  state  with  the 
good  law  to  enforce  it,  for  children  will  come  across  the  border  to 
work  and  return  home  at  night.  This  is  believed  to  be  true  in 
thousands  of  cases  along  the  Ohio  River.  They  are  not  residents 
of  the  state,  and  neither  the  children  nor  their  parents  are  amenable 
to  the  laws  of  the  state  in  which  they  work.  The  employer  of  such 
labor  is  able  practically  to  set  at  naught  the  laws  of  his  own  state 
in  this  particular.  He  gets  his  low-priced  labor  and  the  consequent 
advantage  over  his  competitor  who  may  be  located  further  away 
from  the  boundary,  where  the  latter  cannot  get  cheap  labor. 

If  the  inspector  goes  to  such  an  employer  in  an  effort  to  enforce 
the  laws  of  the  state  under  which  he  carries  on  business,  often  the 
children  are  not  there.  They  are  across  the  boundary,  there  is  no 
record,  the  inspector  is  involved  in  complicated  interstate  relations 
in  trying  to  apply  the  law  in  a  case  where  the  residents  of  another 
state  are  involved.  As  a  consequence,  there  is  little  or  nothing  of 
a  practical  nature  that  he  can  do.  He  is  dealing  with  a  situation 
that  was  not  contemplated  by  the  legislature. 

There  is  still  another  feature  of  enforcement  that  is  of  even 
more  importance  than  the  foregoing.  Suppose  an  attempt  is  made, 
as  has  been  done  repeatedly  in  Ohio,  to  enforce  the  law  upon  the 
border.  The  employer  of  child  labor  says,  "If  you  enforce  this 
law  here  we  will  move  into  the  next  state,  where  the  conditions  are 
more  favorable  to.  our  business."  They  tell  our  legislators  that ;  all 
do  not  believe  they  will  move  out  of  the  state,  but  some  do,  enough 
do  to  weaken  not  only  the  enforcement  of  a  good  law,  but  to  put 
an  effective  stop  to  the  movement  for  better  legislation.  Such  an 
argument  has  weight,  for  a  state  does  not  wish  to  lose  any  of  its 
industries,  for  laws  inimical  to  industrial  development  drive  indus- 
tries away,  and  such  are  not  a  good  thing  for  the  state.  We  may 
question  honestly  that  the  threat  to  move  will  be  carried  out,  yet  it 
is  a  sufficiently  potent  argument  to  hamper  the  enforcement  of  a  law 


74  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

and  the  attempt  to  extend  its  best  features.  In  states  where  there 
is  no  law,  but  where  one  is  in  contemplation,  I  can  readily  see  how 
this  condition  would  exist  and  the  border  employers  would  resist 
its  enactment. 

Let  us  look  at  this  now  from  the  standpoint  of  the  employer. 
Let  us  suppose  there  are  two  states  lying  side  by  side,  one  having 
an  age  limit  of  fourteen,  the  other  having  no  age  limit,  or,  at  least,  a 
lower  one.  The  man  in  the  state  with  the  age  limit  wishes  to 
conform  to  the  law  and  yet  if  he  does  he  is  put  under  a  disability. 
His  competitor  across  the  boundary  has  the  advantage  in  competi- 
tion, an  advantage  which  he  is  quick  to  see  and  turn  to  his  own 
uses.  He  is  able  to  underbid  the  man  who  has  a  more  limited  supply 
of  labor.  The  latter  is  continually  harassed  by  this  condition 
because  he  is  less  able  to  get  and  keep  sufficient  force  for  his  factory. 
Then,  too,  he  has  to  pay  higher  wages.  This  gives  the  employer  of 
younger  children  an  advantage  in  that  his  rate  of  wages  is  very 
likely  to  be  lower  than  in  the  industry  where  child  labor  is  njore 
restricted.  In  all  fairness,  therefore,  to  these  two  men,  they  should, 
as  far  as  possible,  be  subject  to  the  same  regulations,  at  least  as 
far  as  ages  and  hours  are  concerned.  I  believe  that  employers  them- 
selves would  prefer  the  latter  condition,  for  it  would  put  them  on 
an  equality,  which  would  give  their  business  stability.  Stability 
and  certainty  are  two  things  which  every  careful  business  man 
appreciates.  The  man  in  the  state  with  a  good  child  labor  law  is 
subject  to  the  uncertainty  which  arises  from  unfair  competition, 
and  the  man  in  the  state  with  no  child  labor  act  is  subject  to  the 
passage  of  one  and  the  taking  away  of  a  source  of  profit.  Sooner 
or  later  he  will  lose,  but  in  the  meantime  undesirable  conditions 
continue. 

Hence  it  seems  to  me  a  plain  proposition  that  adjoining  states 
with  competing  industries  should  have  as  much  uniformity  as  pos- 
sible in  their  child  labor  regulations. 

It  is  therefore  pertinent  and  useful  to  inquire  as  to  the  points 
upon  which  uniformity  is  possible. 

Of  the  various  points  covered  in  our  best  child  labor  laws  there 
are  points  upon  which  our  experience  enables  us  to  be  in  substantial 
agreement. 

First  among  these  is  the  age  limit.  A  child  of  thirteen  in  one 
state  is  the  same  as  a  child  of  thirteen  in  another  state.     What  is 


Situation  in  Ohio  and  Border  States  75 

bad  and  harmful  for  one  is  bad  and  harmful  for  the  other.  If  it 
is  injurious  for  a  child  of  thirteen  years  to  work  in  a  factory  in 
Ohio,  it  is  injurious  for  a  child  of  the  same  age  to  work  in  a  factory 
in  West  Virginia,  California,  New  York  or  anywhere  else.  It  would 
seem,  therefore,  practical  for  the  states  to  have  the  same  regulation 
regarding  age,  and  this  would  be  the  first  long  step  toward  uni- 
formity. 

The  same  remarks  could  be  made  with  equal  applicability  in 
regard  to  hours.  A  twelve-hour  strain  is  a  twelve-hour  strain,  and 
is  just  as  harmful  on  a  fourteen-year-old  boy  or  girl  in  one  state 
as  another. 

The  same  statements  are  valid  for  specified  occupations.  A 
circular  saw  or  belting  is  just  as  dangerous  in  Kentucky  as  in 
Ohio,  and  a  child  should  not  be  permitted  to  work  around  such 
machinery  in  either  state.  Both  states  should  prohibit  it.  There 
ought  to  be  no  difficulty  in  getting  such  a  law  passed  in  any  state. 

In  other  points,  such  as  certificates,  inspection,  public  notices, 
educational  tests,  physical  tests,  fines,  etc.,  there  might  conceivably 
be  room  for  a  difference  of  opinion  and  of  policy.  But  my  conten- 
tion is  that  on  the  fundamentals  of  child  labor  law  adjoining  states 
with  the  same  industries  should  be  in  agreement  for  the  sake  of 
the  child,  for  the  sake  of  the  industry,  and  for  the  sake  of  respect 
for  law.  How  shall  this  desirable  result  be  achieved?  I  know  of 
no  sure  way  except  by  educating  the  people  of  a  state  that  is  back- 
ward in  this  matter  up  to  a  point  where  they  will  introduce  the 
desirable  changes  and  improvements,  and  themselves  see  that  they 
are  carried  out. 

It  seems  to  me  undesirable  in  the  extreme  that  our  Ohio  law 
should  be  set  at  nought  and  rendered  worse  than  no  law  by  the 
children  that  come  into  Cincinnati  daily  from  the  towns  across  the 
river  to  work  in  the  factories  and  stores  of  this  city.  It  is  undesir- 
able that  children  should  be  ferried  across  the  river  from  West 
Virginia  to  work  in  our  glass  factories,  or  that  our  children  should 
be  ferried  to  West  Virginia  to  work  in  their  glass  factories.  It  is 
undesirable  that  Kentucky  children  should  penetrate  sometimes 
thirty  miles  inland  in  Ohio  to  work  in  some  canning  factory.  It  is 
undesirable  that  a  boy  of  a  widowed  mother  able  to  support  him  in 
school  should  go  to  work  in  a  box  factory,  after  lying  about  his  age, 
and   there   contract    vicious    habits,     there   to    exhaust   his    nerve 


76  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

strength  so  that  the  cheap  garish  theatre  is  all  that  will  satisfy  his 
craving  for  excitement.  It  is  undesirable  that  the  cupidity  of  a 
parent  should  prompt  him  to  go  to  the  school  superintendent  and 
lie  about  his  child's  age  that  the  parent  may  get  the  fifty-five  cents 
per  day  earned  in  a  bolt  factory  to  spend  on  lodges  and  euchre 
parties.  It  is  undesirable,  I  say,  that  a  boy  of  twelve  years  be  sent 
nightly  to  disorderly  places  with  telegraph  messages,  where  vice  is 
flaunted  in  his  face  and  he  is  made  familiar  with  its  poisonous 
details.  It  is  extremely  undesirable  that  immigrant  children,  truant 
from  school,  should  pick  coal  in  the  mining  region. 

These  are  the  undesirable  features  of  the  child  labor  situation 
in  the  Ohio  Valley  in  recent  years  and  months.  They  are  not  set 
down  here  out  of  fancy,  but  are  set  down  out  of  fact.  Some  of 
them  are  things  that  could  never  be  touched,  even  remotely,  by  a 
national  statute  of  a  general  nature,  because  a  railroad,  steamboat 
or  other  common  carrier  has  nothing  whatsoever  to  do  with  the 
operation.  They  must  be  regulated  by  the  individual  state  exer- 
cising its  functions  as  the  guardian  and  instructor  of  its  youth.  It 
must  be  done  by  the  state  in  co-operation  with  every  other  adjoining 
state. 

Whatever  may  be  said  about  other  kinds  of  uniformity,  the 
states  touching  the  Ohio  River  must  work  in  harmony  or  in  unison 
for  similar  regulations,  or  a  desirable  adjustment  of  the  present 
discord  will  be  far  to  seek. 


CHILDREN  IN  THE  GLASS  WORKS  OF  ILLINOIS 


.  By  Mrs.  Harriet  Van  der  Vaart, 

Of  Chicago,  Vice-Chairman  of  Industrial  Committee  of  the  General 
Federation  of  Women's  Clubs. 


All  who  have  had  experience  in  child  labor  legislation  know  that 
each  state — sometimes  a  group  of  states — has  its  own  particular 
problem  to  solve,  relating  to  the  employment  of  children  in  the 
industries  of  that  state.  In  soine  states  it  is  the  mining  industry; 
in  others  the  cotton  industry,  and  in  Illinois,  as  in  many  others,  it  is 
the  glass  industry. 

When  we  were  working  for  our  present  law,  the  glass  manu- 
facturers of  Illinois  kept  some  one  at  Springfield  to  watch  and 
oppose  each  step  of  the  law,  and  in  all  of  the  arguments  they  always 
closed  with,  "If  this  law  goes  into  effect  it  will  drive  this  industry 
out  of  the  state." 

Perhaps  all  do  not  know  the  character  of  the  work  in  a  glass 
factory.  Every  glass  blower  has  to  have  two  or  three  boys  to 
assist  him  in  the  work.  The  glass  blower  pours  the  molten  glass 
into  the  molds;  a  boy  sits  and  closes  the  molds;  another  one  picks 
the  bottles  out  of  the  molds  and  puts  them  on  a  long  stick  or 
handle,  and  puts  them  in  front  of  a  small  furnace,  which  is  called 
"the  glory  hole,"  where  the  top  or  the  neck  of  the  bottle  is  finished. 
Then  they  are  placed  on  a  long  tray,  and  the  boys  carry  them  into 
the  annealing  furnaces,  where  they  are  gradually  cooled. 

One  of  the  arguments  advanced  by  those  who  are  most  inter- 
ested in  keeping  boys  in  the  glass  factories  is  that  it  requires  the 
agility  and  activity  of  boys  to  carry  these  bottles  to  the  annealing 
furnaces,  for  they  cannot  get  men  or  adults  to  run  as  these  boys  do 
most  of  the  time  betwen  the  ovens  and  the  furnaces.  The  day  shift 
of  one  week  is  always  the  night  shift  of  the  next,  which  means 
that  the  boy  who  worked  during  the  day  this  week,  the  next  week 
will  work  at  night.    The  night  shift  generally  leaves  the  factory  a^ 

(77) 


yS  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

half-past  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Now  it  is  very  easy 
to  see  that  coming  away  from  those  heated  furnaces  out  into  the 
chilly,  cool  air  of  the  winter  morning  makes  the  boys  liable  to  colds 
and  pulmonary  diseases. 

The  moral  influences  surrounding  the  boys  in  a  glass  factory 
are  generally  bad.  Anyone  who  visits  a  glass  factory  will  see  little 
saloons  or  grog  shops  all  around  the  factory,  and  while  a  great 
many  factories  prohibit  liquor  being  brought  into  the  factory,  all  do 
not.  In  some  factories  the  boys  carry  the  liquor,  but  where  it  is 
prohibited  this  temptation  meets  them  when  they  first  leave  the  fac- 
tory and,  coming  out  into  the  chilly  morning  air,  debilitated  by  the 
labor  and  heat,  of  course  the  temptation  is  great  to  take  something 
that  will  stimulate  them.  Around  all  the  factories  there  is  a  high 
board  fence,  and  on  top  of  this  fence  are  two  or  three  barbed  wires. 
When  I  inquired  at  one  of  the  factories  the  reasons  for  this,  one  of 
the  reasons  given  me  by  one  factory  was,  "Well,  it  keeps  the  boys  in 
for  one  thing."  The  glass  blowers  are  very  dependent  upon  their 
helpers,  and  if  the  boys  leave  at  a  critical  time  the  glass  blowers 
are  obliged  to  stop  their  work.  Of  course,  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  this  is  the  only  reason  for  this  high  fence,  but  it  is  doubtless 
one. 

The  work  of  the  boys  in  the  factory  is  irregular  and  requires 
no  training  nor  skill.  In  some  factories  where  I  visited  I  found  that 
boys  received  forty  cents  extra  at  the  close  of  the  week  if  they 
worked  the  entire  week  and  if  they  did  good  work. 

Through  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  two  years  ago  I 
was  permitted  to  visit  a  large  number  of  the  glass  factories  in  both 
Indiana  and  Illinois.  I  not  only  visited  the  factories,  but  the  homes 
also,  to  learn  the  health  of  the  child,  the  grade  he  was  in  when  he 
left  school,  the  conditions  of  the  factory,  if  he  worked  nights,  and 
his  wage.  These  and  many  other  questions  the  schedules  of  the 
Child  Labor  Committee  required  to  be  answered.  During  this 
investigation  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  character  of  the 
young  help  in  the  glass  factory  was  greatly  changed;  that  the 
most  intelligent  parents  throughout  the  country  were  becoming  con- 
vinced that  the  glass  factories  were  not  the  places  for  their  boys. 
It  was  very  seldom  that  the  child  of  a  glass  blower  was  found  in 
the  factory.    Generally  the  children  of  glass  blowers  were  kept  in 


Children  in  the  Glass  Works  of  Illinois  79 

school.  Mr.  Root,  of  the  Root  Glass  Company,  said:  "The  smaller 
number  of  boys  that  are  found  in  the  factories  throughout  the 
country  is  due  to  the  changed  conditions  of  labor.  The  large  glass 
industries  attract  to  them  large  numbers  of  foreigners,  and  the 
American  boys  are  not  bemg  employed  in  the  glass  factories  as  they 
were  some  time  ago." 

I  was  told  a  number  of  times  that  the  Glass  Blowers'  Union 
was  the  only  thing  that  kept  the  intelligent  workmen  in  the  trade, 
and  that  manufacturers  never  objected  to  this  union,  because  they 
recognized  this  fact:  it  is  the  only  inducement  that  is  offered  to 
intelligent  men  and  to  parents  to  allow  their  boys  to  enter  the  work. 
The  apprenticeship  system  among  the  glass  blowers  is  such  that  a 
very  long  time  is  required,  and  it  is  a  fact  that  a  very  few  of  the 
boys  who  enter  the  glass  factories  ever  become  apprentices. 

One  manufacturer  admitted  to  me  that  the  boys  in  the  glass 
industry  generally  were  smaller  and  not  as  well  developed  as  the 
boys  who  had  lived  a  normal  life  outside.  He  said  he  thought  this 
did  not  argue  that  they  were  not  as  well. 

Mr.  Root  did  not  object  to  the  prevailing  laws  as  long  as  his 
competitors  were  subject  to  the  same  restrictions ;  he  did  not  think 
that  a  law  prohibiting  boys  under  sixteen  from  being  employed 
could  be  enforced.  He  said  he  knew  of  one  manufacturer  where 
there  had  been  returned  thirty-two  indictments  against  him,  not  one 
of  which  had  ever  been  brought  to  trial. 

At  the  time  of  my  investigation  I  was  convinced  that  there 
was  some  degree  of  reason  in  his  remarks.  At  least  I  felt  quite 
sure  that  the  glass  manufacturers  were  not  obeying  the  laws  in  this 
respect. 

I  talked  with  the  president  of  one  of  the  large  glass  blowers' 
unions  in  Indiana.  He  said  that  he  had  been  in  that  particular  fac- 
tory for  three  years;  that  during  that  time  he  had  never  seen  an 
inspector  or  the  results  of  a  visit  from  one;  that  in  the  factories 
where  affidavits  were  required  the  manufacturer  simply  sent  home 
a  paper  by  one  of  the  children  which  was  signed  by  the  parent  and 
brought  back. 

In  one  of  the  factories  in  Indiana  I  insisted  upon  seeing  the 
affidavits.  There  was  a  little  bundle  of  affidavits  brought  out  to 
me  that  were  several  years  old,  none  of  which  could  apply  to  any 
of  the  children  that  were  at  that  time  employed  in  that  factory. 


So  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  president  of  the  union  in  Indiana  said  that  he  had  worked 
in  Alton  as  well  as  in  Indiana,  and  he  thought  that  the  conditions 
were  much  worse  in  Indiana  than  they  were  in  Illinois.  Night  work 
is  not  prohibited  in  Indiana.  It  was  quite  the  customary  thing  for 
school  children  to  go  into  the  factory  at  night  and  work  until  eleven 
and  twelve  o'clock  and  go  to  school  during  the  day.  This  would  be 
found  especially  true  on  Thursday  and  Friday  nights. 

I  went  to  the  inspector's  office  in  Indiana  and  talked  with  him 
in  regard  to  the  condition  in  Indiana,  and  he  told  me  that  he  only 
had  five  inspectors;  that  with  five  inspectors  a  state  the  size  of 
Indiana  could  not  be  inspected.  This  is  something  for  us  to  con- 
sider. The  factory  force  should  have  the  number  of  inspectors 
that  is  necessary  for  thorough  work  and  a  sufficient  appropriation 
to  carry  on  the  work. 

The  best  factory  I  found  was  in  Indiana — the  Ball  Brothers 
factory — which  I  hope  is  a  sample  of  the  future  glass  factory, 
where  machinery  is  gradually  taking  the  place  of  the  boy.  In  talk- 
ing with  Mr.  Ball,  he  said  that  he  thought  that  the  time  was  not 
far  distant  when  machinery  would  take  the  place  of  boys  in  all 
glass  factories. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  glass  manufacturers  are  not  only  not 
living  up  to  the  law  themselves,  but  that  they  are  educating  children 
to  be  law-breakers.  When  we  visited  Alton  two  years  ago  we 
went  through  the  factory,  both  in  the  afternoon  and  in  the  evening, 
and  we  found  a  model  factory.  The  next  day  when  I  was  visit- 
ing in  the  homes  of  the  children  who  worked  in  the  factory,  in 
order  that  I  might  gain  the  data  required,  I  was  told  in  quite  a 
number  of  homes  that  this  factory  had  known  that  we  were  to  visit 
them,  and  had  been  prepared  for  our  visit.  After  I  had  received  a 
great  deal  of  this  information  I  went  back  to  the  factory  and  made 
known  what  I  had  discovered  during  the  afternoon:  that  I  had 
learned  that  they  were  prepared  for  our  visit.  Mr.  Smith,  of  the 
Alton  Glass  Factory,  said  to  me :  ''But,  madam,  if  you  were  informed 
that  the  enemy  was  in  the  field,  what  would  you  do?  Wouldn't  you 
take  all  precautions  that  were  necessary  to  protect  yourself?" 

When  I  was  asked  to  talk  upon  this  subject  at  the  Third  Na- 
tional Child  Labor  Convention  I  did  not  think  it  would  be  fair  to 
speak  upon  the  conditions  as  I  found  them  two  years  ago.  It  seemed 


Children  in  the  Glass  Works  of  Illinois  8i 

obligatory  at  least  to  visit  the  largest  plant,  the  Alton  glass  factory. 
I  reached  Alton  last  Wednesday  morning,  at  eight  minutes  past  six. 
I  took  a  car  and  went  down  at  once  to  the  glass  factory.  On  the 
way  there  a  gentleman  in  the  car  told  me  that  a  few  days  before  he 
had  seen  two  little,  very  ragged,  dirty  boys  taking  the  dinner  out 
to  their  father  in  the  factory,  and  he  asked  them  why  they  were  not 
in  school.  They  said  they  did  not  have  clothes  to  go  to  school, 
and  one  of  them  told  him  that  the  oldest  one  would  be  old  enough 
next  year  to  go  to  work.  He  told  me  that  these  two  boys  were 
growing  up  there  without  any  education  and  were  being  kept  at 
home  for  the  sake  of  carrying  their  father's  dinner  every  day. 

When  I  arrived  at  the  glass  factory  it  was  about  half-past 
six.  There  are  two  large  gates  at  the  Alton  factory  where  the 
employees  enter  to  work.  I  stood  at  the  upper  gate  from  half- 
past  six  until  a  few  minutes  past  seven,  until  all  the  employees  had 
entered  for  work.  I  saw  perhaps  two  or  three  hundred  employees 
enter  the  yard.  I  did  not  keep  an  actual  tally  of  the  children  that 
entered.  But  I  am  sure  that  I  am  giving  a  conservative  estimate 
when  I  say  that  the  age  of  at  least  forty  or  fifty  of  the  children 
that  went  into  that  yard  would  have  been  questioned  by  any  dis- 
interested person. 

I  was  told  that  our  factory  inspectors  had  been  through  Alton 
only  a  week  before,  and  had  found  quite  a  number  of  violations, 
and  that  they  had  quite  heavily  fined  the  firm.  Perhaps  that  is  the 
reason  why  I  saw  so  many  that  morning.  I  presume  it  is  quite 
natural  for  a  factory  to  feel  that  after  a  visit  from  the  inspectors 
they  certainly  have  a  little  time  when  they  need  not  be  so  strict. 

In  the  forenoon  of  this  same  day  I  went  back  to  the  Alton 
Glass  Factory  and  asked  if  I  might  go  through  the  factory.  I  was 
quite  peremptorily  refused.  Mr.  Levis  said  he  didn't  think  it  would 
do  any  good;  that  they  had  been  painted  quite  as  black  as  they 
could  be,  and  he  wasn't  willing  for  me  to  go  through  their  factory. 

Not  far  away  from  where  the  factory  is  located  there  is  :i  tract 
of  land  that  is  very  low  and  swampy,  a  very  uncomfortable  place 
to  live,  but  where  a  great  many  of  the  people  live  whose  children 
work  in  factories.  I  went  down  into  that  locality  and  visited  from 
house  to  house.  At  the  second  house  I  went  into  the  sister  told  me 
that  her  brother  was  asleep ;  that  he  had  worked  the  night  before  in 


82  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  factory.  I  asked  her  how  old  he  was;  she  said  he  was  fifteen. 
The  next  house  that  I  went  into  there  was  a  small  boy  in  the  room 
who,  his  mother  said,  was  twelve.  The  boy  said  he  had  been  sent 
home  from  the  factory  that  morning  because  the  inspectors  were 
there.  I  asked  her  if  he  had  an  affidavit ;  she  said,  no.  I  asked 
him:  "How  long  have  you  worked  in  the  factory?"  He  said:  *T've 
worked  here  one  month — one  week,  days,  and  one  week,  nights." 
In  going  from  house  to  house,  I  found  a  number  of  children  whose 
mothers  told  me  they  were  not  sixteen ;  they  were  fourteen  and  fif- 
teen, who  had  worked  all  night  the  night  before  in  the  factory.  It 
seems  to  me  from  what  I  saw  and  heard  that  the  Alton  glass  works 
are  not  living  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  law. 

Being  so  near  East  St.  Louis,  I  also  visited  the  glass  factory 
there.  On  my  way  to  the  office  I  was  overtaken  by  two  girls,  who 
told  me  that  anyone  could  walk  in,  and  one  of  them  said,  'T  will 
take  you  where  the  children  work,  "we  girls  hide  the  kids  when  the 
factory  inspectors  come  in."  I  said:  "Why  do  you  do  it?"  "O, 
well,  I  would  like  to  be  hid  if  I  was  their  age ;  but,"  she  said,  "I 
think  it  is  a  mistake  to  send  them  to  work  so  young.  They  are 
employing  boys  for  thirty-five  and  forty  cents  a  day  to  do  men's 
work." 

It  was  the  time  of  recess,  and  at  the  door  of  the  factory  there 
was  quite  a  large  group — at  least  ten  or  twelve  very  small  boys — 
who,  at  the  sound  of  the  whistle,  scampered  back  to  the  furnaces. 
When  I  went  into  the  factory  the  foreman  tried  immediately  to 
attract  my  attention.  He  said:  "I  want  to  show  you  where  they 
are  putting  glass  into  the  furnace  to  be  melted  and  where  they  are 
packing,  that  you  may  know  the  work  is  not  hard.  I  saw  at  a 
glance  that  he  was  trying  to  give  these  boys  time  to  get  out  of  the 
way,  but  I  saw  a  number  of  boys  that  any  one  would  have  said 
were  certainly  very  small  to  be  working  in  a  glass  factory. 

From  this  investigation  and  my  own  judgment,  I  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  glass  manufacturers  throughout  the  country 
are  not  obeying  the  laws  for  the  regulation  of  child  labor;  that 
they  are  not  only  not  living  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  law,  but 
that  they  are  teaching  our  young  children  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  obey  laws. 

Education  is  helping  to  eliminate  the  American  child  from  the 


Children  in  the  Glass  Works  of  Illinois  83 

glass  factories,  and  that  education  must  be  extended.  We  must  have 
a  type  of  pubHc  school  that  will  appeal  to  our  foreigners ;  we  must 
have  more  industrial  education ;  we  must  have  trade  schools.  If  the 
parents  and  children  were  convinced  that  continuing  in  school  meant 
industrial  training;  that  it  meant  a  step  nearer  receiving  a  living 
wage,  and  entering  a  more  skilled  trade,  our  factory  and  our  com- 
pulsory education  laws  would  be  more  easily  enforced  than  they 
are  at  present. 


CHILD  LABOR  AND  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


By  Hon.  Nathan  C.  Schaeffer,  Ph.D., 
State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  in  Pennsylvania. 


Two  problems  which  keep  the  superintendent  awake  at  night 
are:  to  get  all  the  children  to  school,  and  to  get  good  teachers  for 
all  the  schools.  The  superintendent  very  soon  finds  that  he  cannot 
solve  the  first  of  these  problems  unless  the  child  labor  laws  are 
enforced;  and  the  work  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  in 
helping  to  secure  and  to  enforce  these  laws  cannot  bear  its  legiti- 
mate fruit  unless  we  put  good  teachers  into  the  schools. 

There  does  seem  to  be  a  time  in  the  life  of  the  average  boy 
when  he  holds  the  almighty  dollar  so  close  to  his  eyes  that  he  sees 
nothing  else  in  God's  universe.  You  can  sometimes  keep  the  boy 
at  school  by  showing  him  the  value  in  future  earning  power  of  an 
education;  but  there  are  multitudes  of  boys,  and  even  girls,  whom 
you  cannot  get  to  school  if  they  are  allowed  to  go  to  work,  that  is, 
if  they  see  at  the  end  of  the  week  several  dollars  that  they  can 
spend.  Suppose  you  have  kept  the  child  out  of  the  factory  and 
out  of  the  mine,  what  have  you  done?  You  have  only  begun  the 
work.  Punctuality  is  a  school  virtue;  industry  is  another  school 
virtue;  obedience  is  still  another  school  virtue.  I  feel  in  this  con- 
nection like  emphasizing  veracity  as  a  school  virtue.  I  do  not  look 
upon  deception  about  a  child's  age  as  an  unimportant  thing;  the 
child  that  is  taught  to  give  an  age  two  or  three  years  below  the  real 
age  in  order  that  it  may  cheat  the  trolley  company  out  of  a  nickel 
thereby  forms  habits  of  dishonesty  that  very  easily  lead  to  dishon- 
esty toward  the  employer  and  the  commonwealth  and  the  nation. 

If  I  had  to  write  above  the  school  the  one  grand  aim  of  the 
effort  of  the  school,  I  would  put  there  in  electric  letters,  "Truth." 
Truth  is  the  aim  on  the  intellectual  side,  and  what  truth  is  in  the 
domain  of  the  intellect,  that  truthfulness  or  veracity  is  on  the  side  of 
conduct. 

(84) 


Child  Labor  and  the  Public  Schools  85 

Does  the  child  acquire  these  school  virtues  upon  the  street? 
Does  it  even  acquire  these  virtues  in  a  school  in  charge  of  a  poor 
or  inefficient  teacher?  The  very  atmosphere  of  a  good  school  incul- 
cates school  virtues  without  which  the  individual  cannot  hold  a 
place  in  any  industrial  establishment,  even  though  he  knows  the 
catechism  by  heart,  or  can  repeat  entire  chapters  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures. 

I  claim,  then,  that  on  the  side  of  character  building  we  have 
only  begun  the  work  when  we  have  excluded  the  child  from  the 
mine  and  the  factory.  Work,  it  has  been  said  this  evening,  is  an 
essential  in.  the  development  of  the  child.  It  is  the  business  of  the 
school  to  prepare  the  child  for  civilized  life;  and  it  is  characteristic 
of  civilized  man  that  he  works,  and  that  he  finds  pleasure  in  work, 
and  that  he  is  never  quite  satisfied  when  he  is  out  of  work,  as  for 
instance,  during  a  strike. 

The  savage,  on  the  other  hand,  dislikes  work.  He  may  impose 
it  upon  others,  upon  his  captive  or  his  squaw,  but  as  for  himself, 
he  prefers  sport  and  games  and  gambling,  the  excitement  of  the 
chase  and  of  war. 

Now  if  the  child  is  to  be  trained  for  civilized  life,  it  must  be 
taught  while  at  school  not  only  how  to  work,  but  to  find  pleasure 
in  work.  It  must  acquire  not  only  habits  of  work,  but  the  power 
to  stick  to  work  even  when  the  work  becomes  irksome;  and  that 
is  only  done  under  an  efficient  teacher. 

We  may  view  work  as  to  its  products.  The  products  of  work 
outside  of  the  school  bring  a  price  in  the  market,  and  that  is  what 
interests  the  manufacturer ;  but  the  laws  of  nearly  all  states  now 
say  that  the  time  of  the  child  up  to  a  certain  age  is  so  valuable 
that  it  must  not  be  spent  upon  making  things  that  will  sell,  but 
must  be  devoted  to  school  work  that  will  fit  the  child  for  the  duties 
of  civilized  life. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  work  that  interests  you  people, 
and  that  is  the  reflex  influence  of  work  upon  the  worker.  The  very 
first  paper  to-night  discussed  the  reflex  influence  of  factory  work 
upon  the  body  of  the  worker.  That  is  not  all  that  this  organiza- 
tion should  study.  The  reflex  influence  of  work  upon  the  heart  and 
the  mind,  upon  the  disposition  and  upon  the  character  is  quite  as 
important  as  the  reflex  influence  of  work  upon  the  body  of  the 


86  The  A)uials  of  the  American  Academy 

worker.  It  is  right  there  that  I  think  the  school  must  step  in  and 
help  the  work  that  you  are  trying  to  accomplish.  If  the  reflex  influ- 
ence of  the  work  that  is  done  at  -the  school  makes  the  boy  despise 
work  with  the  hand,  all  your  effort  to  have  the  child  excluded  from 
the  factory  and  the  mine  and  put  into  school  is  labor  lost.  If  the 
life  of  that  school  does  not  beget  in  the  pupil  the  ability  to  find 
pleasure  in  work,  the  ability  to  stick  to  work  when  the  work  becomes 
irksome,  the  ability  to  stand  at  his  post  and  do  his  duty,  then  the 
school  has  failed,  and  your  work  is  also  a  failure. 

It  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  we  have  taken  a  profound 
interest  in  all  this  child  labor  legislation.  I  studied  many  phases 
of  history  when  I  was  a  student  at  the  University,  but  of  all 
the  kinds  of  history  that  gave  me  encouragement  in  my  studies, 
the  history  of  legislation  to  save  the  child  from  white  slavery  in 
England  was  the  most  encouraging;  and  in  spite  of  all  the  defects 
in  the  enforcement  of  our  child  labor  laws,  I  still  see  in  these  efforts 
a  happy  day  dawning  upon  us ;  I  see  in  these  efforts  a  means  by 
which  the  superintendent  can  bring  all  the  children  to  school. 


THE  VALUE  OF  PUBLICITY  IN  REFORM 


By  Arthur  T.  Vance, 
Editor  of  the  Woman's  Home  Companion. 


A  large  corporation  was  giving  a  dinner  to  its  heads  of  depart- 
ments to  celebrate  the  year  of  prosperity  which  had  just  closed. 
After  feasting,  speeches  were  in  order,  and  finally  came  the  turn  of 
the  gentleman  who  had  charge  of  the  German  department.  He  got 
up  and   expressed  himself  as  follows : 

''Gentlemens:  Ve  vas  all  here,  hafing  a  mighty  goot  time.  Ve 
haf  a  right  to  haf  a  goot  time,  because  ve  haf  been  prosberous  in 
business.  Ve  was  also  feeling  goot,  because  ve  haf  lots  of  goot 
thinks  to  eat.  Ve  vas  habby,  because  ve  vas  able  to  sit  here  und 
drink  our  champaign  at  four  dollars  a  bottle,  und  smoke  our  cigars 
at  fifty  cents  apiece  mit  de  satisfaction  of  knowing  dat  the  house 
vas  standing  for  de  whole  exbense.  But,  gentlemens,  ve  must 
not  forgot  dose  unfortunates  elsewhere  in  de  world  who  ain't  feelin' 
so  fine  as  ve  vas  to-night ;  dose  unfortunate  people  who  haf  not  got 
goot  champaign  to  drink  at  four  dollars  a  bottle  und  cigars  to  smoke 
at  fifty  cents  apiece.  Ve  must  not  forgot  dose  poor  peoples  who 
haf  not  efen  got  a  crust  of  breat  on  vich  to  lay  their  veary  heads. 
Gentlemens,  I  tink  ve  should  do  somethings  to  show  our  feelings 
for  dose  poor  peoples.  I  feel  from  de  bottom  of  my  bosom  up  dot 
now  is  de  time  to  show  our  sympathy.  Gentlemens,  I  probose  dot 
ve  gif  tree  cheers  for  de  poor." 

Now,  the  gentleman  was  earnest  and  meant  well  in  his  remarks, 
and  really  did  not  do  any  harm.  In  fact,  if  you  look  at  it  in  the 
right  way  you  will  see  that  he  was  doing  his  best  to  give  publicity 
to  the  cause  of  philanthropy. 

I  hope  I  shall  not  be  accused  of  stealing  Senator  Beveridge's 
thunder  if  I  tell  you  the  story  he  told  me  of  how  he  was  led  to  intro- 
duce his  much  talked  of  federal  child  labor  bill.  A  year  ago  Senator 
Beveridge  prepared  a  stump  speech  which  he  delivered  at  various 


88  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

public  gatherings  up  and  down  the  land.  In  this  speech  was  a  four 
line  reference  to  child  labor.  The  child  labor  paragraph  was  lis- 
tened to  with  interest,  of  course,  but  it  did  not  seem  to  arouse  any 
especial  enthusiasm.  This  was  last  year's  speech.  In  starting  out 
on  this  year's  political  campaign,  Senator  Beveridge  was  once  more 
called  to  the  stump.  Now,  Senator  Beveridge  is  a  mightly  inter- 
esting talker  any  way,  and  we  always  listen  to  what  he  has  to  say, 
but  this  year  he  noticed  in  his  very  first  speech,  when  he  came  to 
the  little  reference  to  child  labor,  that  his  audience  began  to  sit  up 
and  take  notice,  so,  with  the  inherent  instinct  of  the  born  orator, 
ever  watching  the  opportunity  to  drive  home  a  good  point,  he  added 
a  few  lines  off  hand.  And  thus  the  child  labor  paragraph  began  to 
grow  with  every  repetition,  as  Senator  Beveridge  noticed  more  and 
more  interest  in  that  topic,  ur^til  child  labor  came  to  be  the  dominant 
note  of  his  address. 

He  looked  around  him  for  the  reason  for  this  remarkable 
increase  in  interest,  and  soon  found  out  to  his  own  satisfaction  that 
it  was  due  to  the  way  the  magazines  and  newspapers  of  the  country 
had  been  talking  about  child  labor  month  after  month  until  public 
sentiment  had  been  so  thoroughly  aroused  that  it  had  become  a 
national  issue.  Here  is  a  specific  instance  of  the  value  of  publicity 
in  child  labor  reform. 

Let  us  look  at  the  situation  from  another  point  ot  view.  Pub- 
licity in  reform  is  merely  the  application  of  modern  business  methods 
to  reform  work.  This  statement  is  so  obviously  true  that  it  seems 
almost  unnecessary  to  make  it. 

The  manufacturer  who  has  a  product  in  which  he  believes, 
spends  thousands  of  dollars  in  buying  publicity  m  the  newspapers 
and  magazines  to  tell  the  people  of  the  country  about  the  virtues  of 
his  product.  We  call  this  sort  of  publicity,  advertising,  and  it  is 
good  advertising  if  the  product  lives  up  to  the  claims  he  makes  for 
it.  We,  who  are  interested  in  reform,  do  precisely  the  same  thing 
when  we  take  steps  to  interest  the  newspapers  and  magazines  in  our 
pet  theories,  and  if  our  reform  is  a  good  thing  the  people  of  the  coun- 
try will  stand  by  and  back  us  up.  In  other  words,  advertising  pub- 
licity and  reform  publicity  both  accomplish  the  same  thing.  They 
arouse  public  interest  and  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  object 
which  they  have  in  view. 


Value  of  Publicity  in  Reform  89 

I  do  not  think  any  great  reform  ever  has  been  accomplished  or 
ever  will  be  accomplished  without  what  we  call  public  sentiment 
back  of  it.  It  is  possible,  of  course,  to  persuade  legislatures  and 
congresses  to  pass  laws,  but  laws  are  never  adequately  enforced 
unless  backed  up  by  public  sentiment. 

Not  long  ago  a  certain  state  passed  a  child  labor  law,  not  a 
very  good  one,  but  better  than  nothing,  and  among  the  inspectors 
appointed  was  a  man  who  liked  to  sit  on  the  fence  until  public 
opinion  directed  him  on  which  side  he  should  flop.  He  went  among 
his  neighbors,  dropping  a  question  here  and  a  hint  there  to  see  if 
strict  attention  to  the  law  would  be  required  of  him.  He  speedily 
discovered  that  rigid  enforcement  was  expected  and  without  delay. 
Public  sentiment  against  child  labor  was  rampant  in  that  state,  and 
the  law  just  passed  was  a  law  that  had  been  demanded  by  the  women 
and  mothers  of  the  community,  and  they  were  determined  that  it 
should  not  become  a  dead  letter. 

Publicity  has  always  been  the  active  factor  in  the  production  of 
this  public  sentiment.  This  was  true  even  in  the  old  days.  But 
then  it  was  generally  accidental  publicity.  When  Charles  Reade 
wrote  "It  Is  Never  Too  Late  to  Mend"  he  did  not  think  that  his 
book  was  going  to  be  so  influential  in  hastening  the  cause  of  prison 
reform  in  England.  When  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  wrote  "Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin"  she  did  not  dream  of  the  great  reform  her  story  was 
destined  to  work.  .Yet  this  was  publicity  of  the  finest  sort.  What  a 
great  thing  it  would  be  for  child  labor  reform  if  the  horrors,  the 
pathos,  the  pity,  the  sin  of  it  all  could  be  masterfully  presented  in  the 
form  of  a  great  novel. 

But  nowadays  we  plan  publicity  in  a  more  systematic,  more 
scientific  manner.  The  problem  is  mereh  one  of  how  best  to  reach 
the  people  whom  we  want  to  interest,  whose  help  we  want  to  enlist 
in  the  cause.  A  modern  campaign  of  publicity  is  planned  precisely 
as  a  campaign  of  advertising.  And  in  both  cases  the  effectiveness 
of  the  campaign  depends  upon  the  worthiness  of  the  cause. 

We  have  come  to  place  a  greater  dependence  than  ever  upon 
the  power  of  the  magazine  in  molding  public  opinion.  This  is  not 
a  reflection  upon  the  daily  press,  whose  good  work  the  magazines 
always  supplement,  but  it  is  simply  due  to  a  better  insight  on  the 
part  of  the  general  public  into  the  making  of  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines. 


90  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  public  has  figured  out  that  the  magazine,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  is  able  to  reflect  a  more  mature  opinion.  Everybody  knows 
that  the  magazine  is  the  product  of  weeks  and  months,  while  the 
newspaper  is  the  product  of  hours.  The  natural  sequence  is  that 
the  magazine  article  is  given  the  greater  credit  and  reliability. 

It  was  magazine  publicity  that  brought  about  the  final  downfall 
of  the  Louisiana  lottery.  It  was  magazine  publicity  that  downed 
Bill  Tweed.  It  was  a  magazine  that  prepared  the  way  for  the 
present  investigations  into  Standard  Oil.  It  was  a  magazine 
article  that  stirred  up  all  this  talk  about  the  conditions  in  Panama, 
that  finally  led  to  the  President  going  down  there  himself  to  inves- 
tigate. The  magazines  have  been  foremost  in  the  fight  for  pure 
food,  and  for  the  regulation  of  patent  medicines.  It  can  be  safely 
said  that  the  magazines  of  to-day  are  one  of  the  greatest  powers  for 
good  in  the  country. 

It  was  also  a  magazine  that  aroused  the  public  sentiment  which 
has  made  child  labor  reform  a  national  issue.  The  Woman's  Home 
Companion  took  up  the  cause  of  child  labor  last  spring.  We  did  it 
because  we  thought  it  was  a  good  thing  and  deserved  our  support. 
We  decided  then  and  there,  with  sincere  enthusiasm  and  earnest 
purpose,  to  fight  the  evils  of  child  labor  with  all  our  might  and 
main.  Reform  should  begin  at  home,  so  we  looked  to  our  own 
factory  in  Springfield,  Ohio.  There  was  no  child  labor  there  to 
stop,  I  am  mighty  glad  to  say,  and  there  never  had  been,  but  after 
careful  consideration  of  the  case  from  every  point  of  view,  w€ 
voluntarily  decided  to  give  our  employees  at  Springfield  the  eight- 
hour  day,  and  now  after  4.30  in  the  afternoon  every  man  and  woman 
in  the  plant  is  through  with  his  or  her  work  and  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  go  home  to  their  families,  to  till  the  garden  and  enjoy 
God's  sunshine. 

We  have  worked  in  sympathetic  co-operation  with  the  National 
Child  Labor  Committee  from  the  start.  We  felt  that  we  were  in 
the  position  to  give  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  just  exactly 
the  assistance  it  most  needed — publicity.  We  consulted  with  them 
and  sent  out  our  investigators  and  began  to  publish  the  series  of 
articles  on  the  evils  of  child  labor,  with  which  you  all  are  familiar. 
The  next  step  in  this  publicity  campaign  was  to  call  upon  our  read- 
ers to  manifest  their  interest  in  the  cause  by  joining  our  Anti-Child 


Value  of  Publicity  in  Reform  91 

Slavery  League.  We  asked  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  America's 
grand  old  man,  to  write  an  appeal  to  the  women  of  America  to 
help  in  the  anti-child  labor  crusade. 

Exploited  and  made  public  in  this  manner,  the  Anti-Child 
Slavery  League  grew  rapidly.  The  earnest  people  of  the  land,  from 
Maine  to  California,  hastened  to  enroll  their  names.  Attorney 
generals  of  several  states  asked  us  to  suggest  adequate  laws, 
presidents  of  colleges  and  of  a  multitude  of  societies  wrote  for 
information  upon  which  addresses  could  be  based,  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  everywhere  applauded  the  work  and  offered  to  organize 
branch  associations,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people  took  an  active 
interest  in  the  work,  and  finally  we  were  asked  by  the  National 
Child  Labor  Committee  to  merge  more  completely  with  it,  so  that 
the  work  of  both  organizations  could  be  directed  under  one  head 
and  without  duplication  of  energy. 

We  enlisted  2,000  of  the  most  prominent  newspapers  of  the 
United  States  to  help  us  in  our  .publicity  campaign,  thus  placing 
the  progress  of  child  labor  reform  before  the  eyes  of  more  than 
5,000,000  people  a  week.  We  talked  child  labor  reform  from  one 
end  of  the  land  to  the  other.  In  short,  we  brought  to  the  work 
of  the  National  Child  I>abor  Committee  and  its  kindred  organiza- 
tions just  what  they  wanted  and  needed.  And  now,  that  an  amalga- 
mation between  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  and  the  Anti- 
Child  Slavery  League  of  the  Woman  s  Home  Companion  has  been 
made,  we  are  more  heartily  and  earnestly  enlisted  in  the  cause  than 
ever. 

The  results  of  this  co-operative  effort  are  already  beginning  to 
manifest  themselves. 

It  was  this  widespread  publicity  campaign  that  led  Senator 
Beveridge  to  realize  the  importance  of  the  child  labor  issue.  It  was 
this  same  publicity  that  helped  influence  President  Roosevelt  to 
make  the  recommendation  in  his  annual  message  that  the  national 
government  take  a  hand  in  investigating  child  labor  conditions. 
The  President  still  further  recognizes  the  value  of  this  publicity  in  a 
signed  statement,  printed  in  the  Woman's  Home  Companion  for 
January,  in  which  he  expressed  in  ringing  terms  just  where  he 
stands  on  child  labor  reform. 

This  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  of  publicity  in  behalf 


Q2  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  '^ 

of  child  labor  reform.  I  can  pledge  the  continued  support  of  the 
magazines  and  newspapers  of  the  country.  We  have  just  begun 
our  efforts  in  behalf  of  child  labor  reform.  We  will  continue  to  do 
our  share,  and  more  than  our  share,  wherever  possible,  until  the 
glorious  work  of  saving  the  children  of  the  nation  is  an  accom- 
plished fact. 


THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF  CHILD  LABOR  LEGISLATION 

IN  ILLINOIS 


By  Hon.  Edgar  T.  Davies, 
Chief  Factory  Inspector  of  Illinois. 


Modern  industrialism  has  produced  modern  individualism.  It 
has  developed  a  parenthood  that  is  prone  to  raise  children  as  human 
commodities  for  the  factory,  the  mills,  the  mines  and  other  places 
where  avenues  of  employment  are  ever  open  to  children.  The  result 
has  been  the  growth  of  a  child  labor  evil  that  is  the  shame  of  modern 
civilization.  It  has  been  fostered  through  three  agencies — the  em- 
ployer ;  the  commercialism  of  parenthood ;  and  a  lack  of  uniformity 
of  legislation,  restricting  the  employment  of  children  under  fourteen 
years  of  age,  and  regulating  the  employment  of  children  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen.  Lack  of  enforced  laws  in  some 
states  and  lax  methods  of  factory  inspection  in  others  have  con- 
tributed in  a  measure  to  the  result.  There  are  states  in  which  there 
have  not  been  sufficient  appropriations  along  with  legislation ;  while 
in  others  the  responsibility  for  the  enforcement  of  laws  has  not  been 
properly  defined,  and  laws  cannot  enforce  themselves. 

In  some  localities  child  labor  laws  are  not  supplemented  by 
adequate  compulsory  education  laws,  and  in  many  states  the  age 
limit  is  too  low,  and  there  is  not  sufficient  educational  test.  Possibly 
the  curriculum  of  our  public  schools  should  be  expanded  to  include 
the  utilitarian  as  well  as  the  educative,  and  to  expand  manual  train- 
ing that  would  educate  the  hand  as  well  as  the  head.  The  inclination 
of  most  boys  is  for  the  manual  as  well  as  the  academic.  Some  states 
do  not  protect  children  engaged  in  hazardous  employment.  All  of 
these  defects  tend  to  a  great  social  waste  during  that  period  of 
childhood  that  is  most  precious  to  the  building  up  of  the  mind  and 
muscle  of  future  citizenship. 

The  question  of  child  labor  has  become  a  source  of  such  national 
apprehension  that  Senator  Beveridge  advocates  a  bill  aimed  at  those 


94  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

industries  that  encourage  it.  The  question  is  one,  however,  that 
cannot  be  settled  solely  by  a  law  that  would  regulate  common  car- 
riers. The  parent,  the  consumer  and  the  public  must  do  their  share 
in  a  suppression  of  the  evil. 

I  am  pleased  to  announce,  and  I  speak  advisedly,  when  I  say 
there  has  been  a  decrease  in  child  labor  in  Illinois  in  the  past  three 
years  to  the  extent  of  eighty  per  cent.  This  gratifying  result  is 
due  to  the  enforcement  of  the  new  child  labor  law  which  was  enacted 
in  1903 ;  to  the  policy  of  individual  inspection ;  to  tempering  the 
enforcement  of  the  law  with  a  campaign  of  education  among  em- 
ployers, giving  them  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  before  they  are 
prosecuted  for  alleged  violation  of  the  law;  and  to  the  policy  of 
the  state  factory  inspector's  office  in  enforcing  a  measure  that  was 
enacted  in  the  name  of  humanity  and  at  the  request  of  all  creeds. 

I  believe  in  prosecution  where  moral  suasion  fails.  Where 
repeated  carelessness  among  employers  caused  technical  violations 
of  the  law,  the  offenders  have  been  prosecuted  with  good  results. 
Prior  to  1903  our  factory  inspectors  were  handicapped  by  inadequate 
legislation.  One  of  the  great  evils  that  caused  so  much  child  labor 
in  Illinois  previous  to  1903  was  a  law  which  exists  to-day  in  a 
number  of  other  states,  viz.:  "The  issuance  of  certificate  merely 
upon  the  affidavit  of  the  parent  or  guardian."  This  pernicious  sys- 
tem merely  places  a  premium  upon  child  labor  and  perjury.  Out  of 
one  hundred  test  cases  in  Chicago  in  1902,  it  was  found  that  eighty- 
two  of  the  children  involved  were  so  small  in  stature,  as  to  arouse 
the  suspicion  of  factory  inspectors,  who  investigated  the  baptismal 
and  birth  records  of  these  children,  and  ascertained  that  they  were 
only  eleven,  twelve  and  thirteen  years  of  age,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  they  had  gone  to  work  on  certificates  issued  by  notaries 
public,  and  sworn  to  by  their  parents,  attesting  that  these  children 
were  fourteen  years  of  age.  Based  upon  these  test  cases,  it  was 
estimated,  at  that  time,  that  out  of  15,000  children  employed  in 
Cook  County  on  affidavits  3,000  were  under  fourteen  years  of  age, 
the  legal  age  limit  to  go  to  work.  The  false  affidavit  system  which 
exists  to-day  in  many  of  the  states  in  a  large  measure  contributes 
to  the  employment  of  children  under  the  legal  working  age,  aided 
and  abetted  by  parents,  who  place  commercialism  above  conscience, 
and  by  the  notary  public,  who  is  guided  by  the  spirit  of  greed  to 
get  his  fee  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  future  welfare  of  the  child.     In 


Child  Labor  Legislation  In  Illinois  95 

view  of  the  fact  that  these  test  cases  in  Chicago  in  1902,  demon- 
strated that  one  out  of  five  children  who  were  then  employed  was 
under  fourteen  years  of  age,  it  is  logical  to  deduct,  without  fear  of 
successful  denial,  that  where  a  child  labor  law  does  not  require  abso- 
lute proof  of  age  such  legislation  in  every  state  is  responsible,  to  a 
great  degree,  for  the  federal  census  returns,  showing  the  employ- 
ment of  so  many  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age.  Doubtless 
the  parents  gave  the  child's  correct  age  to  the  census  enumerator," 
and  then  perjured  themselves  to  the  notary  public,  or  the  official  who 
issued  the  working  certificate. 

Another  defect  in  the  old  child  labor  law  of  Illinois — which 
exists  to-day  elsewhere — was  the  lack  of  requirement  for  an  educa- 
tional test  before  the  child  was  eligible  for  employment.  This 
merely  encourages  illiteracy.  It  is  a  menace  to  the  future  produc- 
tive value  of  the  child,  and  will  be  an  inevitable  contributor  to 
delinquency  or  dependency  in  youth,  and  eventually  the  prison  or 
the  poorhouse  when  that  child's  life  ripens  into  maturity.  Useful- 
ness and  success  in  civic  and  industrial  life  depends  upon  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  health  and  education;  upon  the  moral  and 
intellectual  advancement  of  childhood,  and  proper  mental  and 
physical  equipment  for  the  occupational  life. 

Under  the  old  statutes  of  Illinois  there  was  not  sufficient  pro- 
tection to  children  in  hazardous  employment,  in  "those  vocations  that 
jeopardized  health,  life  and  limb.  This  inadvertence,  which  Illinois 
has  remedied,  still  exists  in  other  states  to-day,  with  the  exception 
of  Ohio.  Nothing  so  appeals  to  the  sympathy  of  human  kind  as 
the  child  on  the  crutch,  or  the  child  whose  life  has  been  deformed, 
and  its  vitality  sapped  as  a  result  of  the  shortsighted  policy  of  care- 
less employers,  who  permitted  the  child  to  be  employed  at  a  danger- 
ous or  injurious  occupation  before  that  child  was  old  enough  to 
exercise  proper  discretion  for  personal  safety.  The  result  has  been, 
the  child  was  crippled  for  life. 

Under  the  old  law  in  our  state,  small  children  were  employed 
in  industrial  plants,  flitting  like  little  shadows  of  the  night  in  the 
domain  of  an  industrialism,  that  even  defied  the  laws  of  nature. 
While  thousands  of  more  fortunate  children  were  at  home  in  bed, 
many  of  the  victims  of  child  labor  worked  all  night  in  the  glass 
works,  withering  their  young  lives  away  before  the  hot  glare  of  the 
furnaces.    Humanity  demanded,  and  humanity  obtained,  a  clause  in 


96  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  new  law,  which  provides  that  children  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  sixteen  cannot  work  between  the  hours  of  7  p.  m.  and 
7  a.  m.  It  also  demanded  that  If  eight  hours  was  long  enough  for 
a  man  to  work,  it  was  long  enough  for  a  child  to  work.  As  a 
result,  improved  legislation  regulating  and  restricting  the  hours  of 
employment  of  children  In  Illinois  has  been  of  great  value  to  the 
health  of  thousands  of  children  employed  in  manufacturing,  mer- 
cantile and  other  pursuits. 

The  eight-hour  clause  of  our  law  applies  to  every  day  and 
month  in  the  year.  Some  states  make  an  exception  for  the  busy 
season.  Childhood  should  be  protected  at  all  seasons — particularly 
during  the  rush  incident  to  the  Christmas  holidays — in  department 
stores  and  in  other  places  of  employment,  where  increased  activity 
places  an  extra  burden  of  long  hours  upon  the  shoulders  of  tired 
and  overworked  childhood. 

The  Illinois  statute  of  to-day  provides  that  no  child  under 
fourteen  years  of  age  shall  receive  a  certificate  to  go  to  work,  and 
that  no  child  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  shall  receive  a  certificate 
to  do  so,  unless  said  child  can  read  and  write  simple  sentences.  The 
system  of  issuing  certificates  safeguards  proof  of  age  and  requires 
this  educational  test.  It  further  provides  for  an  initiatory  certificate, 
to  be  obtained  from  the  principal  of  the  school  the  child  last  at- 
tended, which  It  presents  to  the  superintendent  of  public  or  parochial 
schools,  who  then  Issues  the  age  and  school  certificate,  or  permit, 
upon  which  the  child  goes  to  work.  As  evidence  of  the  fact  that 
many  children  enter  Industrial  life  before  they  have  completed  an 
elementary  education,  the  official  records  show  that  from  July,  1903, 
to  the  close  of  1905,  30,643  working  certificates  were  issued  in 
Chicago  by  the  superintendent  of  public  schools,  and  that  of  this 
number  only  6,601  pupils  had  finished  eighth  grade,  and  16,199  had 
not  reached  seventh  grade. 

As  evidence  of  the  great  value  of  co-operation  between  com- 
pulsory education  and  child  labor  laws,  the  enactment  of  a  new 
compulsory  education  law  in  Illinois  at  the  same  time  that  a  new 
child  labor  law  was  passed  In  1903,  made  it  possible  for  factory 
inspectors  and  truant  officers  to  co-operate  in  the  successful  pro- 
motion of  attendance  at  both  the  public  and  parochial  schools.  The 
school  enrolment  and  average  daily  membership  In  Chicago — par- 


Child  Labor  Legislation  In  Illinois  97 

ticularly  in  the  elementary  grades — have  been  greatly  improved 
within  the  past  three  years.  The  average  annual  truancy  absences 
in  Chicago,  including  repetitions,  one  year  prior  to  the  enactment 
and  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  and  compulsory  education  laws, 
were  7,536 ;  one  year  after  these  laws  went  into  effect  these  truan- 
cies were  decreased  to  5,673,  or  a  reduction  of  nearly  2,000  truancies 
within  the  period  of  one  year.  And  in  addition  to  checking  truancy, 
there  was  an  increase  at  the  public  schools,  according  to  Superin- 
tendent E.  G.  Cooley,  of  some  8,000  pupils  above  the  natural  increase 
in  population.  There  was  also  an  increase  in  the  parochial  schools, 
notably  in  St.  Stanislaus  Parish,  where  it  became  necessary  to  build 
an  additional  parochial  school,  to  accommodate  the  demand  for  seats. 
This  parish  is  in  the  heart  of  one  of  the  cosmopolitan  centers  of 
Chicago,  in  which  the  Polish  nationality  predommates,  and  among  a 
class  of  children,  many  of  whose  parents  formerly  adhered  to  the 
theory  of  the  productive  instead  of  the  educative. 

There  has  also  been  a  reduction  in  the  employment  of  children 
in  the  Chicago  sweatshops  from  14^  per  cent  to  9  per  cent.  The 
percentage  of  children  employed  in  Illinois,  in  1893,  was  8.2  per 
cent;  the  present  percentage  has  been  reduced  to  1.5  per  cent. 
When  we  consider  that  the  Illinois  inspectors  cover  every  possible 
kind  of  an  industrial  or  mercantile  plant,  store,  or  shop,  mine  or 
factory,  this  is  the  lowest  reported  percentage  of  child  labor  of  any 
state  in  the  Union.  In  1893,  out  of  every  thousand  wage-earners 
employed  in  mercantile  and  industrial  establishments,  eighty-two 
were  children  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen.  In  1905 
this  ratio  was  reduced  to  fifteen  children  of  every  thousand  persons 
employed. 

Child  labor  has  been  driven  from  the  coal  mines  of  Illinois. 
This  was  accomplished  by  my  interpretation  of  the  clause  of  the 
law  governing  hazardous  employment — an  interpretation  that  was 
combatted  by  the  coal  operators'  association.  A  test  case  was  subse- 
quently brought  in  the  courts,  in  which  I  was  sustained,  and  as  a 
result  2,200  children  were  emancipated  from  a  life  of  underground 
servitude.  Consequently,  to-day  no  child  under  the  age  of  sixteen 
can  work  in  a  coal  mine  in  Illinois. 

These  results  could  not  have  been  achieved  if  our  efforts  had 
been  confined  to  moral  suasion.    Persuasion  is  a  divine  and  beautiful 


98  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

thing,  but  the  enforced  law,  with  a  penalty  attached,  is  more 
effective. 

During  the  year  ending  December,  1905 — the  latest  obtainable 
for  comparative  statistics — we  prosecuted  and  secured  convictions 
of  531  defendants  on  994  counts.  The  vigilance  of  inspectors, 
backed  by  the  firm  policy  of  the  department  in  prosecuting  offenders, 
has  been  the  greatest  factor  in  the  reduction  and  gradual  elimination 
of  child  labor  in  Illinois. 

When  the  law  was  first  enacted,  the  department,  realizing  that 
enforcement  should  be  tempered  with  fairness,  distributed  72,000 
copies  of  the  law  to  educate  employers  throughout  the  state,  and 
thus  the  industrial  and  mercantile  public  was  fully  advised  of  the 
requirements  of  the  new  statute.  This  action  was  prolific  of  good 
results.  It  proved  a  source  of  much  value,  not  only  to  employers, 
but  to  school  authorities,  the  press,  and  the  labor  and  public-spirited 
organizations  interested  in  an  enactment  that  was  for  the  immeas- 
urable good  of  the  commonwealth. 

It  is  the  policy  and  the  system  of  the  Illinois  state  factory  in- 
spector's department,  to  inspect  industrial  and  mercantile  establish- 
ments in  every  town  and  city,  of  a  thousand  population  and  over. 
The  work  covers  every  store,  office,  laundry,  mercantile  establish- 
ment, theatre,  concert  hall,  place  of  amusement,  factory  and  work- 
shop in  each  town  and  city  visited.  The  inspectors  question  indi- 
vidually each  child  employed.  They  record  all  suspects.  They  call 
upon  the  public  and  parochial  school  authorities  and  ascertain  the 
true  age  of  all  such  suspected  children,  and  obtain  from  the  school 
authorities  the  names  and  addresses  of  all  children  who  deserted 
the  school  for  the  factory  without  having  obtained  from  the  school 
authorities  a  proper  permit. 

We  have  women  as  well  as  men  inspectors.  We  also  maintain 
a  night  inspection  as  well  as  day  inspection,  recording  all  inspections 
made,  so  that  we  may  be  guided  in  properly  disposing  of  any  viola- 
tions found  on  a  future  visit.  School  authorities  are  required  by 
the  statutes  to  report  to  us  all  violations  coming  to  their  attention. 
All  complaints — from  all  sources — are  acknowledged  and  investi- 
gated, and  the  complainant  informed  as  to  the  results  of  the  inves- 
tigation. This  system  required  the  inspection  in  the  last  year  of 
over  70,000  places,  representing  264  towns.    All  children  under  the 


Child  Labor  Legislation  In  Illinois  99 

age  of  fourteen   found  employed  are   reported  to  the  school  au- 
thorities. 

In  Illinois  we  believe  in  a  spirit  of  co-operation  between  the 
factory  inspector,  the  truant  officer,  the  teacher,  the  social  settlement 
worker,  the  probation  officer,  the  club  woman,  and  all  humanitarians 
who  are  soldiers  in  the  common  cause  of  battling  for  the  protection 
and  the  advancement  of  child  life.  Unity  of  effort  among  child- 
helping  agencies  and  representatives  of  every  creed,  and  every 
organization  interested  in  childhood  was  responsible  for  the  victory 
in  the  legislature  that  gave  us  our  new  child  labor  law,  in  spite  of 
the  powerful  opposition  of  corporations  that  opposed  it.  We  believe 
that  the  repression  of  child  labor  and  the  necessity  of  compulsory 
education  are  essential  for  the  good  of  the  community,  for  the  good 
of  future  citizenship,  for  the  safety  of  society  and  the  destiny  of  the 
republic.  The  spirit  that  demands  the  emancipation  of  children  from 
industrial  slavery  is  but  natural  in  the  state  that  Lincoln  loved. 

Particularly  do  we  realize  the  fact  that  if  factory  inspectors 
exclude  a  child  from  employment  in  a  factory  or  workshop,  that 
child  should  not  be  permitted  to  run  at  large  upon  the  streets,  for 
it  is  upon  the  street  that  evil  associations  corrupt  childhood.  For 
that  reason  the  return  of  the  child  by  the  truant  officer  is  a  factor 
in  insuring  an  intellectual  future  after  the  child  has  been  dismissed 
from  employment. 

We  are  in  need,  however,  of  additional  legislation  in  Illinois, 
that  will  compel  a  child,  after  having  reached  the  age  of  fourteen, 
to  either  go  to  work  or  continue  at  school,  after  it  has  attained  this 
maximum  of  the  compulsory  attendance  age.  A  child  between  the 
ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  should  not  be  permitted  to  waste  these 
two  valuable  years  of  its  life  in  idleness  that  will  inevitably  con- 
tribute to  crime  in  the  future.  It  is  from  juvenile  delinquency  that 
adult  crime  receives  so  many  recruits. 

The  census  figures  of  1900,  relative  to  the  number  of  children 
employed  at  gainful  occupations  in  Illinois,  do  not  apply  to  present 
conditions,  as  the  census  was  taken  six  years  ago. 

It  must  be  realized  that  Illinois  is  a  great  agricultural  state, 
and  that  many  children  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  fifteen  were 
employed  on  farms  at  certain  periods  of  the  year.  In  the  urban 
life,  most  particularly  in  Chicago,  many  children  sell  newspapers 


loo  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

after  school  hours,  and  are  exempt  under  the  child  labor  law.  It 
is  to  be  remarked  in  the  passing  that  the  school  records  show  that 
thousands  of  children,  some  of  whom  formerly  worked  in  the  fac- 
tories under  the  old  affidavit  system,  were  taken  from  their  places 
of  employment  and  placed  in  school  in  1903-04.  The  question  of  the 
employment  of  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  does  not  apply 
in  any  marked  degree  to  present  conditions  in  Illinois.  It  must  also 
be  remembered  that  the  census  enumerators  quite  likely  included 
in  their  estimate  of  females  between  ten  and  fourteen  years  of  age, 
a  number  of  girls  who  were  engaged  in  domestic  service  in  the 
home,  as  well  as  boys  who  assisted  on  the  farm.  At  the  time  the 
census  was  taken  there  were  doubtless  thousands  of  children  em- 
ployed in  the  coal  mines  of  the  state.  This  evil  has  since  been 
eradicated  by  the  decision  of  the  courts,  which  makes  it  impossible 
for  a  child  under  sixteen  to  work  in  a  coal  mine. 

The  latest  available  statistics  of  the  number  of  children  em- 
ployed at  gainful  occupations  are  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Illinois 
state  factory  inspector  for  the  year  1905,  which  shows  the  results 
of  inspection  in  70,539  industrial  and  mercantile  plants,  stores  and 
offices,  and  other  places  where  children  were  employed.  The  num- 
ber of  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  employed  in  these  70,539 
places  in  the  state,  in  1905,  was  11,752,  compared  to  19,839  in  17,209 
places  inspected  in  1901.  These  figures  do  not  apply  to  agricultural 
pursuits,  or  street  trades,  or  domestic  service. 

Our  problem  in  Illinois,  therefore,  is  confined  largely  to  the 
regulation,  protection  and  hours  of  employment  of  children  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen.  The  new  child  labor  law  abso- 
lutely prohibits  the  employment  of  children  under  fourteen  at  any 
time  of  the  year  in  any  store,  office,  laundry,  mercantile  institution, 
factory  or  workshop,  etc.,  or  in  any  other  occupation  during  the 
period  that  the  schools  are  in  session. 

The  present  procedure  of  proving  age  by  methods  other  than 
the  mere  statement  of  the  parent,  practically  abolishes  the  employ- 
ment of  children  under  fourteen.  Therefore  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
former  conditions  in  Illinois,  that  prevailed  in  1900,  and  which  were 
made  possible  by  a  lax  law  and  a  lax  method  of  inspection  of  only 
14,219  plants  in  that  year,  have  been  supplanted  by  improved  legis- 
lation, that  is  both  stringent  and  effective ;  by  an  increased  activity 


Child  Labor  Legislation  In  Illinois  loi 

of  inspectors,  that  has  made  it  possible  to  cover  70,539  plants  in 
1905,  and  to  show  a  decrease  in  child  labor  between  fourteen  and 
sixteen  years  of  age  from  3.3  per  cent  in  1900,  when  the  census  was 
taken,  to  1.5  per  cent  in  1905. 

The  new  compulsory  education  law  of  Illinois  now  compels 
children  in  the  country  districts — between  the  ages  of  seven  and 
fourteen — to  attend  school  the  entire  time  the  school  is  in  session. 
The  minimum  period  in  the  country  districts  is  no  days  of  actual 
teaching,  and  the  period  in  the  city  districts  is  forty  weeks,  or  the 
full  school  year. 

In  Chicago  there  is  a  great  cosmopolitan  population.  Of  the 
parents  who  send  their  children  to  work  only  20  per  cent  of  these 
parents  are  of,  American  birth.  About  23  per  cent  are  born  in 
Germany ;  12  per  cent  in  Bohemia ;  10  per  cent  in  Sweden,  Norway 
and  Denmark ;  8  per  cent  in  Russia ;  8  per  cent  in  Ireland ;  5  per 
cent  in  Italy;  4  per  cent  in  Poland,  and  the  remaining  10  per  cent 
from  the  other  countries  of  Europe.  About  20  per  cent  of  the 
children  go  to  work  within  one  month  after  they  are  fourteen  years 
of  age,  and  40  per  cent  within  four  months  thereafter.  This  shows 
a  tendency  on  the  part  of  many  parents  to  send  their  children  to 
work  as  soon  as  they  have  completed  the  compulsory  school  attend- 
ance age,  at  fourteen.  Many  of  these  parents  have  a  limited  knowl- 
edge of  English,  and  quite  a  number  of  them  cannot  read  or  write. 
From  a  physical  standpoint,  the  children  of  American-born  parents 
appear  to  be  in  the  best  condition.  The  Polish  children  are  poorly 
developed  in  chest  measurement  and  are  stunted  in  growth.  The 
Italian  and  Russian  children  are  usually  short  in  stature.  It  seems 
to  be  the  perversity  of  fate  that  in  large  families  the  revenue  is 
small,  and  the  lack  of  socialization  of  the  parents  and  their  poverty 
in  life  is  due  to  their  own  deficiency  of  education.  Hence,  were  it 
not  for  legislation  in  Illinois,  that  requires  compulsory  school  attend- 
ance, these  children  would  receive  the  unfortunate  heritage  of  an 
illiterate  and  indiflferent  parenthood. 

It  has  always  been  the  apology  of  the  south,  for  the  prevalence 
of  child  labor,  that  it  was  a  charitable  impulse  to  put  children  to 
work  who  were  the  products  of  the  impoverished  home,  and  who 
came  from  large  families,  where  the  combined  earnings  of  children 
were  necessary  to  assist  in  the  support  of  the  parents.     It  is,  there- 


102  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

fore,  apparent  that  the  conditions  in  Chicago,  in  the  colonies  of  the 
foreign-born  population,  made  possible  by  our  present  lax  immigra- 
tion laws,  present  the  same  excuse,  because  it  was  the  custom  of  the 
parents  abroad  to  send  children  to  work  at  a  premature  age.  But 
the  Illinois  law  inculcates  the  American  principle  into  the  hearts  of 
these  immigrants,  with  the  result  that  they  are  compelled  to  send 
their  children  to  school  until  they  are  fourteen  years  of  age.  Hence 
the  children  are  not  a  menace  to  the  wage  scale  of  the  adult,  and  we 
work  parents  more  and  children  less.  We  must  not  blame  the  south 
alone  for  the  prevalence  of  child  labor  in  its  mills,  so  long  as 
northern  capital  operates  these  mills  and  is  deaf  to  the  cry  of  the 
children. 

The  ideal  child  labor  law  does  not  exist.  But  I  believe  the 
present  statute  of  our  state  is  one  of  the  best  and  in  advance  of  any 
so  far  enacted  by  our  legislatures.  It  can  be  further  improved, 
however,  by  imposing  increased  authority  upon  a  factory  inspector, 
to  demand,  wherever  necessary,  a  certificate  from  a  physician  of 
good  repute,  showing  that  the  child  in  question  is  physically  able 
to  perform  all  of  the  duties  required  of  it,  and  that  the  employment 
of  said  child  will  not  imperil  its  health.  It  should  also  be  amended 
to  state  specifically  that  the  child  should  be  able  to  read  and  write 
in  the  English  language,  and  to  pass  a  reasonable  educational  test 
in  that  language,  instead  of  being  accepted  for  employment  on  the 
present  limited  educational  test  of  reading  and  writing  simple  sen- 
tences in  any  language. 

There  should  also  be  provisions  to  regulate  the  street  trades, 
such  as  newsboys,  venders,  etc.,  and  an  amendment  to  protect  girls 
between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  eighteen,  and  to  prevent  their 
employment  at  night,  or  the  employment  of  any  girl  or  boy  between 
these  ages  in  any  concert  hall  or  place  of  amusement  where  intoxi- 
cating liquors  are  sold. 

The  boys  and  girls  of  this  day  and  generation  represent  the' 
fathers  and  mothers  of  the  future.  If  child  labor  is  permitted  to 
increase;  if  we  do  not  throw  safeguards  about  the  children  of  to- 
day, to  protect  their  health,  their  morals  and  their  education,  the 
question  of  this  republic  will  not  only  be  one  of  race  suicide,  but  race 
decay,  that  will  result  in  this  country  losing  the  laurels  which  it  now 
possesses,  as  the  most  enlightened  and  progressive  in  the  world. 


Child  Labor  Legislation  In  Illinois  103 

Our  flag  waves  a  welcome  to  the  oppressed  on  foreign  shores. 
But  the  immigrant  must  be  impressed  when  he  comes  from  the 
fatherland  of  Europe,  that  this  is  America,  and  that  the  precious 
trinity  of  our  national  life  is  the  home,  the  school,  and  good  citizen- 
ship. Upon  these  tenets  a  great  country  has  risen  to  stand  supreme 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  with  fidelity  and  protection  for  its 
children,  as  well  as  the  stability  of  its  people  and  the  purity  of  its 
homes. 

And  we  should  say  unto  capital  at  home,  "Do  not  permit  the 
competitive  life  to  build  up  our  industrial  institutions  upon  the 
vitality  of  little  children,  or  permit  the  factory  to  rob  the  school  of 
that  rising  generation,  upon  whose  shoulders  rests  the  future  and  the 
fate  of  this  republic. 


CHILD  LABOR  AND  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


By  Samuel  McCune  Lindsay,  Ph.D., 
Secretary  of  the   National   Child  Labor   Committee, 


The  restriction  or  the  abolition  of  child  labor  will  impose  new 
duties  and  open  up  new  opportunities  for  the  public  school  every- 
where. What  is  the  cost  of  child  labor,  not  to  the  children  in  terms 
of  stunted  bodies  and  dwarfed  minds,  but  to  society,  in  terms  of 
racial  and  industrial  deterioration?  We  frequently  ask  that  ques- 
tion and  usually  answer  it  by  coming  to  a  firm  conviction  that  it 
does  not  pay.  It  is  not  worth  the  price  we  pay  for  it.  It  is  equally 
necessary  that  we  should  ask  ourselves  what  will  it  cost  society  to 
restrict  or  to  abolish  child  labor.  This  cost  will  be  measured  lareelv 
in  terms  of  the  cost  of  additional  schools,  better  and  more  variec 
training,  including,  of  course,  trade  schools,  and  some  additional 
relief  for  poverty. 

Education  is  fundamental  in  the  normal  evolution  of  societv 
and  of  the  state.  Therefore  the  public  school  should  be  as  compre- 
hensive as  the  needs  of  the  state  itself,  and  the  supreme  object  ^f 
public  responsibility.  We  are  still  far  from  a  realization  of  this 
axiomatic  truth  in  any  part  of  these  United  States  of  to-day,  thouLih 
we  seem  to  h^ve  set  our  faces  in  that  direction  even  in  the  poorest 
and  most  backward  sections  of  our  country.  The  great  Socia" 
Education  Congress  recently  held  in  Boston  is  a  proof  of  this  fact. 
Not  many  years  ago,  in  another  section  of  our  country,  only  a  few 
hundred  miles  from  Boston,  I  heard  emphatically  defended  from  a 
public  platform  another  doctrine,  namely,  that  the  state  has  no 
responsibility  nor  concern  for  education  beyond  furnishing  the  mere 
rudiments  to  pauper  children,  and  that  the  proper  function  of  the 
public  school  is  to  be  in  reality  nothing  more  than  a  pauper  school. 
While  such  doctrine  would  meet  with  little  acceptance  in  any  com- 
munity now,  it  is  well  to  recall  the  fact  that  it  is  less  than  a  century 
since  we  established  anywhere  a  system  of  public  schools  based 

(T04) 


Child  Labor  and  the  Public  Schools  105 

upon  a  radically  different  idea.  Many  of  us  still  act  as  though  we 
were  satisfied  that  the  state  had  discharged  its  full  responsibility 
when  it  has  taught  the  spelling  book  to  only  a  fraction — even 
though  a  large  fraction — of  its  children.  Education  carried  beyond 
the  spelling  book  becomes  increasingly  expensive  and  the  taxpayer's 
voice  and  vote  increasingly  insistent  that  we  do  not  go  too  far. 

It  is  to  be  earnestly  desired  that,  in  every  public  gathering 
like  this,  where  the  permanent  welfare  of  the  child  is  an  object  of 
concern  and  discussion,  we  ask  how  far  is  far  enough.  Let  us  ask 
this  question  in  a  wholly  disinterested  manner,  having  taken  note 
not  only  of  the  interest  of  the  taxpayer,  important  as  that  is,  but 
also  of  the  equally  important  interests  of  the  state,  and  of  all  her 
children  who  constitute  her  greatest  asset,  even  when  measured  in 
terms  of  their  economic  value.  We  shall  be  able  to  answer  the 
question:  How  far  must  the  state  go  in  the  use  of  its  power  and 
revenues  for  the  promotion  of  public  education,  for  our  own  day 
and  generation,  if  we  study  carefully  the  new  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities which  the  Zeitgeist  imposes. 

I  shall  now  endeavor  to  point  out  two  or  three  ways  in  which 
some  new  expansive  forces  are  acting  on  the  public  school: 

( 1 )  A  new  and  more  intense  social  spirit  pervades  the  republic. 
This  is  an  inevitable  consequence  of  improved  communication,  a 
result  of  the  development  in  transportation  by  land  and  water,  the 
telegraph,  telephone,  newspaper,  the  increase  in  wealth  and  inter- 
change of  products.  The  individual,  family,  town,  city  or  state 
can  no  longer  live  an  isolated  life,  but  is  almost  instantly  affected 
by  the  prosperity,  health  and  wealth,  or  by  the  poverty,  disease, 
ignorance  and  vice  of  other  groups  with  whom  they  are  in  close 
relation,  but  over  whose  acts  they  have  only  an  indirect  control. 
It  is  no  longer  possible  within  the  bounds  of  our  western  civilization 
to  keep  social  opportunities  at  radically  different  levels,  to  have  a 
part  of  the  population  densely  ignorant  and  inefficient  and  to  guar- 
antee the  advantages  of  culture  and  efficiency  to  another  part. 
Inter-communication,  which  is  the  very  life  of  modern  commerce, 
IS  the  siphon  that  connects  the  various  sections  of  our  country  which 
provide  unequal  opportunities  and  educational  advantages  which 
must  henceforth  seek  a  common  level  or  some  basis  of  equalization. 

(2)  All  the  children  of  the  republic  are  equally  objects  of  its 
concern.    We  can  no  longer  fail  to  ponder  seriously  the  facts  that 


io6  The,  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

show  10.7  per  cent  of  the  population  over  ten  years  of  age  ilhterate, 
which  must  mean  that  it  has  not  been  touched  at  all  by  the  school, 
public  or  private;  that  show  only  50.5  per  cent  of  the  population 
five  to  twenty  years  of  age  attending  school ;  that  show  only  79.8 
per  cent  of  the  population  ten  to  fourteen  years  of  age  attending- 
school  in  those  years  which  should  be  so  sacredly  guarded  as  the 
golden  educational  and  preparational  period  in  the  life  of  every  boy 
and  girl ;  facts  that  show  that  one  in  every  six  children  ten  to  sixteen 
years  of  age  is  engaged  in  some  gainful  occupation,  trying  to  earn 
his  or  her  own  bread,  or  contribute  to  the  support  of  a  family ;  and 
finally  the  fact  that  at  least  5Chd,ooo  children  of  these  ages  are 
engaged  in  specially  hazardous  occupations  which  are  quite  likely  to 
sap  their  nervous  energy,  stunt  their  physical  growth,  blight  their 
minds,  destroy  their  moral  fiber  and  fit  them  for  the  social  scrap 
heap  before  they  have  ever  had  any  real  chance  to  respond  to 
stimuli  that  probably  would  make  of  most  of  them  valuable  mem- 
bers of  society.  The  public  school  has  not  fulfilled  its  mission  until 
it  can  answer  for  the  whereabouts  of  every  child  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion and  guarantee  to  the  state  that  all  its  children  are  being  prop- 
erly educated,  their  energies  properly  safeguarded,  until  they  reach 
the  age  of  full  discretion,  whether  at  work,  study  or  play — and  all 
three  of  these  factors  should  enter  into  the  growth  of  every  child. 

(3)  The  demand  for  efficiency  is  a  demand  for  training.  Not 
only  must  all  the  children  of  the  nation  be  "reached  by  the  school, 
not  only  is  it  the  legitimate  concern  of  the  people  of  Georgia  to  see 
that  the  children  of  Massachusetts  are  being  reached  by  the  public 
school,  and  vice  versa,  but  also  must  we  see  that  these  children  are 
raised  at  least  to  a  certain  minimum  level  of  efficiency  in  doing  the 
things  at  which  they  are  destined  to  spend  the  major  portion  of 
their  lives,  and  through  the  doing  of  which  they  in  turn  will  support 
themselves  and  the  state.  There  is  no  place  in  a  democracy  for 
public  education  that  is  not  vocational  in  addition  to  being  cultural. 
Are  American  standards  of  humanity,  of  political  sagacity,  and  of 
common  business  shrewdness  sufficiently  high?  Will  they  protect 
childhood  from  the  greed  of  employers  who  are  grappling  with  the 
difficulties  of  a  short  labor  supply  and  high  wages,  and  who  would 
draft  the  child  into  their  service  because  he  can  be  had  easily  and 
for  small  wages?  Will  they  protect  children  from  the  greed  of 
vicious  parents  who  would  rid  themselves  of  the  duties  and  respon- 


Child  Labor  and  the  Public  Schools  107 

sibility  of  parenthood,  or  from  the  indifference  of  ignorant  parents 
to  the  sacrifice  of  their  children,  or  from  the  dire  necessity  of  the 
poor  parent  who  is  driven  by  hunger  to  offer  his  child  unto  Moloch  ? 
If  we  are  prepared  for  legislation  forbidding  child  labor  under  four- 
teen years  of  age  in  all  occupations,  and  under  sixteen  years  of  age 
at  night  work  and  in  specially  dangerous  occupations,  we  must  also 
be  prepared  to  pay  the  cost  of  this  new  social  standard.  The  cost 
means  more  schools  and  better  schools,  schools  that  will  do  all  in 
the  way  of  trade  education  and  more  for  the  child  than  he  can 
receive  from  any  factory,  mine  or  workshop,  and  finally  make  pro- 
vision for  his  physical  necessities  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  improve 
the  opportunities  in  all  cases  where  the  poverty  of  parent  or  guar- 
dian makes  this  impossible.  The  state  now  furnishes  a  school  room, 
desks,  pencils,  books  and  materials,  irrespective  of  the  child's  ability 
to  pay  for  them,  because  in  this  way,  and  only  by  so  doing,  as 
experience  proves,  do  we  get  the  desired  community  result  from 
the  school  as  a  whole.  It  is  an  equally  important  factor  in  the 
ability  of  the  pupil  to  do  a  good  day's  work  at  school  that  he  come 
to  school  properly  fed  and  clothed,  and  we  must  be  prepared  to 
provide  in  some  way  for  the  physical  needs  of  underfed  and  improp- 
erly clothed  school  children  if  we  expect  our  schools  to  be  really 
efficient.  Whether  we  do  this  from  the  public  school  budget  or  not, 
as  we  now  buy  text-books  and  maps,  is  not  half  so  important  a 
question  as  the  fact  that  the  school  is  now  committed  of  necessity 
to  seeing  that  it  is  done.  The  public  may  decide  that  it  prefers  to 
rely  upon  private  agencies  or  philanthropy  to  provide  the  means, 
nevertheless,  in  seeing  that  it  is  done,  the  school  is  brought  into 
closer  organic  relations  to  the  life  of  the  community  and  the  vital 
interests  of  the  child  are  enhanced. 

(4)  The  public  school  is  an  administrative  department  of  gov- 
ernment. The  Prcrident's  Cabinet  needs  a  Secretary  of  Education 
even  more  than  s.  Secretary  of  War^ — and  the  present  versatile, 
high-minded  and  able-bodied  occupant  of  the  latter  post  could  most 
worthily  hold  the  educational  portfolio.  Every  Governor  needs  a 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  as  a  more  active  member  of  his 
council  than  a  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  can  possibly  be, 
and  the  Mayor  of  every  town  and  city  needs  the  Superintendent  of 
Schools  as  a  right-hand  adviser  more  than  he  needs  a  Police  Com- 
missioner.    Our  public  schools  must  be  prepared  to  enlarge  their 


io8  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

administrative  duties  if  they  expect  to  get  a  larger  share  of  the 
public  revenues  so  urgently  needed  to  carry  on  their  work.  Already 
in  large  cities  the  tenement  house  inspectors,  the  health  officials  and 
sanitary  inspectors,  the  factory  inspectors  and  many  other  public 
officials  depend  increasingly' on  school  teachers  and  school  officials 
for  aid  in  their  work,  because  the  teachers  and  school  officials  are 
in  closer  and  more  vital  relation  to  the  homes  of  the  people  than 
any  other  body  of  public  officials.  It  is  a  short-sighted  policy  for 
any  school  official  to  resist  these  new  demands  on  his  already  over- 
taxed fund  of  energy,  because  by  responding  to  them  he  will  find 
the  quickest  relief  which  will  come  through  public  appreciation  of 
the  great  burdens  he  is  now  carrying  and  the  willingness  to  give 
him  more  adequate  support.  Unfortunately,  few  departments  of 
administrative  government  are  in  general  so  poorly  organized  on 
the  business  side  as  our  departments  of  pilblic  education.  In  none 
is  it  more  difficult  to  get  satisfactory  reports  of  what  is  being  done, 
enlightening  statistics  that  enable  one  to  measure  results  or  to  calcu- 
late the  relative  cost  of  work  done  and  that  which  is  left  undone 
because  of  lack  of  means.  All  this  works  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
school  and  the  teacher,  because  the  public  at  large  is  more  sympa- 
thetically inclined  to  support  and  develop  public  education  than  any 
other  department  of  social  work,  if  its  needs  can  be  properly  pre- 
sented for  public  discussion.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  no  city 
system  of  schools  in  the  United  States  that  could  not  legitimately 
absorb  within  the  next  ten  years  the  total  sum  of  money  now  raised 
and  that  will  be  raised  at  the  present  tax  rate  for  all  public  expenses 
in  that  city  each  year  during  the  next  ten  years,  and  that  the  legiti- 
macy of  this  demand  would  be  admitted  and  the  means  found 
through  new  sources  of  revenue,  if  the  facts  were  placed  before  the 
public  by  the  school  officials,  who  should  know  them,  and  in  a  way 
to  be  clearly  understood  by  the  public  and  the  organized  agencies 
now  doing  the  social  work  of  these  several  localities.  What  I  have 
just  said  of  our  city  system  of  schools,  I  believe,  would  hold  equally 
S^ood  for  many  smaller  town  and  country  districts. 

(5)  The  public  school,  next  to  the  parent,  is  the  proper  guar- 
dian of  the  rights  of  childhood.  It  must  in  all  cases  co-operate  with 
the  parent  in  the  performance  of  this  duty,  and  where  the  parent  is 
Vvanting  or  unfit,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  the  school,  as  the  chief 
a-^ent  of  the  state  for  this  purpose,  becomes  the  sole  executor.    In 


Child  Labor  and  the  Public  Schools  109 

our  present-day  industrial  system,  the  rights  of  childhood  are  being 
invaded  and  nullified  in  no  more  important  and  unnecessary  manner 
than  in  the  widespread  prevalence  of  child  labor.  Why  have  schools 
at  all,  and  why  pass  compulsory  education  laws,  if  at  the  same  time 
we  permit  the  employment  of  children  of  school  age  and  thereby 
create  conditions  which  tempt  employers,  parents  and  children  alike 
to  make  both  schools  and  laws  of  no  avail.  The  public  school  should, 
therefore,  be  the  leader  of  the  forces  militantly  and  wisely  engaged 
in  the  efforts  to  abolish  child  labor  and  regulate  the  abuses  of  the 
rights  of  childhood. 


CHILD  LABOR  AND  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


By  Charles  W.  Dabney,  Ph.D.,  LL.D., 
President  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati. 


As  a  member  of  the  profession  of  school  teaching  in  Cincinnati, 
I  am  very  happy  to  have  the  opportunity  to  express  our  apprecia- 
tion of  the  Convention  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee 
meeting  in  our  city. 

Although  we  have  very  good  laws  in  Ohio,  comparatively 
speaking,  and  we  believe  that  they  are  enforced  as  well  as  might  be 
under  present  conditions,  we  find  ourselves  quite  in  the  position  of 
the  good  people  of  New  York.  We  need  to  be  educated,  we  need 
to  have  the  public  opinion  of  our  community  better  informed  and 
our  hearts  and  consciences  quickened  to  the  importance  of  the  exe- 
cution of  these  statutes. 

A  gentleman  told  me  yesterday  an  incident  that  will  illustrate 
our  need  in  this  respect.  A  rather  prominent  lady  who  saw  an 
advertisement  of  the  great  meeting  last  night  in  the  daily  papers 
remarked  to  another  lady,  "Well,  I  am  glad  to  see  that  there  is 
going  to  be  a  meeting  here  for  child  labor.  I  am  really  tired  of 
seeing  so  many  big  children  ten  years  old  playing  in  the  streets." 
I  think  I  will  take  her  remark  for  my  text. 

As  was  said  at  the  meeting  last  night,  the  object  of  govern- 
ment is  not  merely  the  protection,  but  the  development  of  men.  That 
lesson  was  enforced  last  night  by  every  speaker,  I  believe,  who 
addressed  us.  In  Cincinnati,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  we 
are  coming  to  realize  better  and  better  that  government  does  not 
mean  merely  jails  and  policemen,  but  it  means  every  agency  for 
tlic  complete  development  of  the  child  and  the  man.  As  I  look  at 
it,  there  are  a  number  of  institutions  in  society  that  develop  man, 
five  of  which  I  will  mention:  the  home,  the  school,  the  church,  the 
state,  and  the  professional  and  industrial  occupations.  Through 
tbem  man  i«  to  be  developed  and  made  a  complete  human  being. 


Child  Labor  and  the  Public  Schools  iii 

The  most  important  of  these  is  the  home ;  for  the  home  is  that 
institution  in  which  the  child  discovers  his  relations  to  his  brethren. 
In  the  school  the  child  discovers  his  relations  to  the  youth  of  his  own 
age.  In  the  state  he  discovers  his  relations  to  his  fellow-men.  In 
business  he  learns  more  about  his  relations  to  his  fellow-men  and 
their  needs.  And  in  the  church  he  discovers  the  relations  of  his 
spirit  to  the  great  Father  of  all  spirits. 

It  is  through  these  institutions,  then,  that-  we  are  to  develop 
this  complete  man.  In  considering  their  relative  importance  in 
this  process  we  are  led  to  ask,  is  the  home  doing  its  duty,  here  in 
Cincinnati  and  in  America?  My  friends,  let  me  say  this  much:  I 
do  not  believe  that  this  curse  of  child  labor  is  to  be  attributed 
entirely  to  the  greed  of  manufacturers.  I  think  we  may  have  put 
too  much  emphasis  on  that.  They  are  greedy  for  cheap  labor,  to 
be  sure,  but  what  about  the  greed  of  the  parent?  Neither  is  it  true 
that  child  labor  is  to  be  traced  altogether  to  the  greed  of  the  parent 
combined  with  the  greed  of  the  manufacturer.  The  child  himself 
is  often  greedy — greedy  for  activity,  for  association,  for  money,  and 
so  for  work.  Though  doubtless  he  is  encouraged  in  this  from  the 
very  first  by  his  parents,  his  greed  is  one  influence.  Let  us  not  put 
the  responsibility  for  it  wholly  upon  any  of  these.  I  tell  you  one 
great  reason  that  the  child  goes  to  the  factory  is  that  the  home  is 
not  what  it  ought  to  be ;  and  one  great  reason  that  the  home  is  not 
what  it  ought  to  be  is  that  here  in  America  we  have  not  a  proper 
distribution  of  the  results,  the  products  of  labor.  It  is  the  poverty 
of  the  home  that  drives  the  child  into  the  factory.  If  we  had  in 
this  so-called  free  republic  a  proper  distribution  of  the  wealth  of 
all  the  people  through  the  homes  of  all  the  people,  we  would  not 
have  that  curse  of  poverty  which  is  driving  the  children  into  the 
factories  and  causing  child  slavery. 

I  wish  I  had  the  time  to  speak  of  the  home  as  an  influence 
against  child  slavery ;  but  I  must  say  that  wherever  the  home  is  what 
it  ouo^ht  to  be,  there  the  man  and  the  woman  are  the  citizens  they 
ouo-ht  to  be.  Take  the  great  German  nation  as  an  example.  It 
is  the  home  tie  that  makes  the  German  what  he  is.  It  is  his  love  of 
home  and  love  of  the  school,  which  is  everywhere  the  supplement 
of  the  home,  that  has  made  Germany  the  great  power  in  Central 
Europe.  So  it  is  w^ith  the  Ensflish  people :  and  wn'th  the  Scotch 
more  especially.    It  is  their  pure  Christian  homes  and  their  schools 


112  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

that,  ever  since  the  days  of  John  Knox,  have  made  them  a  power 
in  Great  Britain.  I  beUeve  every  member  of  the  present  Cabinet 
of  the  Liberal  Party  in  England  is  a  Scotchman,  and  with  two 
exceptions,  that  there  is  not  a  single  English  lord  in  the  list.  It 
was  Scotchmen  who  established  nearly  all  of  our  American  insti- 
tutions and  who  built  practically  all  of  our  schools.  In  the  land 
where  we  find  pure  homes  and  good  schools,  there  we  find  strong 
men  and  strong  women  coming  up  in  every  generation. 

Next  in  order  would  come  the  influence  of  the  church  and 
religious  societies  in  the  development  of  the  spirit ;  but  I  must  pass 
that  over  and  talk  to  you  for  a  few  moments  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  teacher  about  the  school  as  a  preventive  of  child  slavery.  In  old 
times  here  in  America,  and  more  particularly  in  Germany,  in  Eng- 
land and  the  other  older  countries,  there  were  home  industries, 
besides  those  of  the  farm,  to  train  the  children  to  work.  For  I  hold, 
my  friends,  that  every  child  needs  to  be  taught  to  work ;  but  he  needs 
to  be  taught  not  in  the  factory,  but  in  the  home  and  on  the  farm, 
with  proper  surroundings  and  under  proper  conditions.  I  believe 
that  it  is  a  part  of  the  education  of  every  child  to  be  so  trained  to 
honest  toil.  It  is  just  as  much  a  part  of  his  education  as  training  to 
write  or  cipher.  The  old  Hebrews  believed  this;  every  truly  great 
people  have  had  some  system  of  training  their  children  in  manual 
labor. 

Under  the  old  conditions  the  American  child  was  trained  in 
many  trades  and  industries  on  the  farm.  In  my  boyhood  I  knew 
such  a  farm  home  in  old  Virginia.  How  glad  I  am  that  I  had  that 
privilege.  Upon  that  old  farm  there  were  the  flour  mill,  the  cooper 
shop,  the  blacksmith  shop,  the  sawmill,  the  carpenter  shop,  the 
tannery  and  shoe  shop,  and  many  other  like  industries,  and  we  boys 
had  the  opportunity  of  gaining  some  familiarity  with  all  of  them. 
Then  there  was  not  merely  the  kitchen,  but  there  were  the  spinning 
and  loom  house,  the  dyehouse,  and  various  other  domestic  industries 
grouped  around  the  old  plantation  home,  in  which  the  white  girls 
took  part  with  the  negro  women.  So  the  boys  and  girls  both  had 
a  training  in  hand  w^ork  at  home  under  the  most  healthful  conditions 
that  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  So  it  was  all  through  the  country  to 
a  larger  or  smaller  extent. 

The  trouble  at  the  present  day  is  that  since  this  crowding  into 
cities  and  this  infinite  division  of  industries,  opportunities  are  no 


Child  Labor  mid  the  Public  Schools  113 

longer  afforded  in  the  home  for  teaching  the  children  to  work.  So 
we  let  them  go  to  the  factory. 

Now,  the  child  really  loves  work;  the  normal  child  is  filled 
with  the  love  of  activity ;  the  desire  to  do  things  is  constantly  stirring 
him  and  seeking  an  outlet.  The  boy  naturally  wants  to  be  doing 
something.  A  little  boy  came  to  my  office  and  wanted  to  hire  as  an 
office  boy.  I  looked  at  him  and  said,  "My  little  fellow,  you  ought 
to  be  in  school.  What  do  you  want  to  hire  out  here  for  ?"  He  said, 
"I  am  tired  of  school — nothing  doing."  That  was  a  new  idea  to  me 
— tired  of  school  here  in  Cincinnati  because  there  was  "nothing 
doing."  This  boy  of  fourteen  years  wanted  to  go  to  work  because 
there  was  "nothing  doing"  in  our  schools.  I  asked  myself  what 
that  meant.  On  further  inquiry  I  learned  that  he  meant  that  he  did 
not  see  any  good  in  it  at  all.  He  had  learned  to  read,  write  and 
cipher,  and  something  of  geography,  history,  etc.,  but  he  wanted  to 
take  an  active  part  in  the  life  of  this  great  city.  He  wanted  to  be 
working,  to  be  making  some  money  and  having  something  to  spend, 
perhaps,  but,  most  of  all,  to  be  out  in  the  big  world  and  doing 
something. 

The  child  wants  to  get  into  life,  or  to  be  where  there  is  "some- 
thing doing,"  and  the  trouble  is  that  in  too  many  of  our  schools 
there  is  "nothing  doing"  to  meet  the  active  mind  of  a  boy.  He  is 
not  satisfied  with  the  conventional  education,  just  the  three  R's  and 
nothing  else. 

What  then  have  we  to  do  as  school  teachers  ?  Give  them  manual 
training?  Yes,  manual  training  is  a  very  good  thing  as  far  as  it 
goes.  But  we  have  to  do  more  than  that;  we  must  put  real  indus- 
trial training  in  the  schools,  because  we  now  have  nothing  of  that 
in  the  home  or  on  the  farm.  We  live  in  the  cities ;  we  cannot  supply 
our  children  with  such  opportunities ;  we  therefore  must  have  more 
of  them  in  our  schools. 

"Too  many  big  children  playing  in  the  street,"  the  lady  said. 
You  laughed  at  it,  as  I  did  at  first ;  but  do  you  know  that  is  a  great 
truth?  There  are  too  many  children  here  in  Cincinnati  playing  in 
the  streets.  A  friend  tells  me  that  there  are  probably  fifty  thousand 
children  in  this  city  who  have  no  other  place  to  play  and  go  into 
the  streets,  because  by  the  very  law  of  their  natures  they  have  got 
to  play.  So  that  one  of  the  things  we  have  to  do  is  to  provide  trade 
education,  industrial  education.    We  must  provide  opportunities  for 


114  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  development  of  the  whole  life  of  the  child — not  merely  his 
intellect,  but  his  physical  and  his  moral  being  also — and  it  is  chiefly 
through  play,  through  association  with  his  fellows,  that  he  develops 
these  phases  of  his  nature.  Next  to  industrial  education  the  great 
needs  of  our  schools  are  playgrounds  and  recreation  centers. 

If  we  provide  for  the  whole  life  of  the  child,  for  the  develop- 
ment of  his  whole  nature;  if  we  provide  sufificient  avenues  for  his 
characteristic  powers  and  activities;  if  we  give  him  opportunity 
both  to  learn  and  to  work  as  he  wants  to  work  and  to  build  up  and 
develop  his  social  nature  as  he  desires,  and  do  it  in  the  school,  he 
will  continue  there  as  long  as  we  want  him  to  stay.  Let  us  have  not 
merely  manual  training,  but  industrial  education;  let  us  have  play- 
grounds in  greater  measure;  let  us  give  the  life  of  the  child  free 
vent.  The  great  longing  of  every  human  being  is  for  life,  ever 
more  and  ever  more  life.  This  is  the  great  call  that  comes  up  from 
the  poor  and  oppressed  everywhere;  from  the  poor  farmer  living 
in  his  sod  hut  in  the  far  west,  as  from  the  factory  slave  in  his  dark 
tenement  in  the  city,  ever  the  call  comes,  "Life,  more  life!"  It  is 
the  demand  of  every  human  heart,  young  and  old.  "It  is  the  infant 
crying  in  the  night,  the  infant  crying  for  the  light." 

When  we  provide  for  the  full  life  of  the  child  we  will  not  have 
to  make  so  many  laws  for  compulsory  education  or  against  child 
labor. 


CHILD  LABOR  AND  THE  NATION 


By  Hon.  Albert  J.  Beveridge^ 

United  States  Senator  from  Indiana. 


The  purpose  of  this  republic  is  to  make  a  better  type  of  man- 
hood and  womanhood.  The  reason  for  free  institutions  is  that  they 
develop  nobler  human  characters  than  any  other  institutions  develop. 
The  meaning  of  a  democratic  form  of  government  is  to  make  people 
happier  and  better,  and  to  make  life  more  worth  the  living.  The 
glory  of  this  Nation  is  not  in  the  exhaustless  fertility  of  our  far 
flung  valleys  and  plains ;  not  in  the  amazing  wealth  of  our  mines  of 
coal,  and  iron,  and  copper  and  gold;  not  in  our  tremendous  aggre- 
gation of  riches;  not  in  our  vast  network  of  railways;  not  in  our 
astounding  commerce  and  trade. 

All  these  are  splendid;  but  these  are  not  the  chief  sources  of 
our  pride.  No,  the  supreme  glory  of  the  American  people  is  a 
pure,  clean,  independent  citizenship — a  type  of  manhood  and 
womanhood,  sound  of  body,  clear  of  mind,  stout  of  heart,  aspiring 
of  soul.  And  to  become  such  a  human  being  as  that  is  the  absolute 
right  of  every  boy  and  girl  under  our  flag,  and  any  system  which 
prevents  any  American  boy  or  girl  from  realizing  that  ideal  is  a 
crime  against  humanity  and  treason  against  liberty  itself. 

And  yet,  such  a  system  is  in  operation  this  ver<y  night.  This 
very  night  this  crime  against  humanity  and  free  institutions  is  being 
committed.  As  I  speak  to  you,  thousands  and  thousands  of  little 
children  are  at  work  in  cotton  mills,  in  glass  factories,  in  the  sweat 
shop,  and,  every  day,  on  the  breakers  of  the  mines.  Their  bones 
are  not  yet  hardened,  their  muscles  still  are  water,  their  brains  are 
still  the  brains  of  infants.  They  are  in  that  period  which  should 
be  the  period  of  the  first  beginning  of  their  growth,  the  period  when 
the  whole  foundation  of  their  life's  development  should  be  laid. 

And  yet,  the  very  materials  for  that  foundation  are  being  for- 
ever shattered.    Their  normal  growth  is  being  stopped,  their  bones. 

(lis) 


ii6  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

made  crooked,  their  backs  bent  with  the  stoop  of  age,  their  minds 
stunted,  their  characters  malformed.  Weak  nerved,  vicious  souled, 
they  are  being  made  degenerate  by  a  system  of  greed,  as  foolish  as 
it  is  wicked.  For  a  child  to  work  upon  the  farm  is  a  good  thing  if 
he  is  not  forced  to  labor  beyond  his  strength.  I  would  even  go  so 
far,  although  many  might  object  to  it,  as  to  say,  as  our  honorable 
President  once  put  it — advocate  the  teaching  of  children  to  work 
properly  as  a  part  of  their  education.  But  the  child  labor  which  I 
denounce  is  the  child  destroying  labor  of  the  factory,  the  sweat  shop 
and  the  mines. 

This  maiming  of  the  bodies  of  the  American  children  goes 
forward.  This  murder  of  infant  characters  and  souls  is  being  com- 
mitted, this  perversion  of  citizenship  is  being  done  to-night ;  and  in 
committing  their  ofifense  against  God  and  man,  an  even  greater 
crime  is  committed  against  free  institutions  themselves.  For  child 
labor  is  daily  pouring  into  the  mass  of  American  citizenship  streams 
of  social  and  political  poison  which  will  be  fell  for  ill  in  this  Republic 
as  the  decades  pass.  As  these  children  reach  what  should  be  the 
conditions  of  maturity,  if  they  have  not  already  been  put  in  their 
graves,  they  become  unthinking  enemies  of  society — irreclaimable 
enemies,  because  the  injury  that  has  been  done  to  them  can  never  be 
undone,  nor  this  cost  repaid.  When  they  grow  up  and  compare 
themselves  with  other  young  men  and  women,  they  clearly  see,  and 
even  more  keenly  feel,  that  they  are  inferior — inferior  in  body,  in- 
ferior in  mind,  inferior  in  soul,  not  inferirr  naturally,  but  made 
inferior  by  the  slavery  of  their  infancy.  They  feel  that  they  have 
been  robbed,  not  robbed  of  money,  not  robbed  of  property;  but 
robbed  of  intellect,  health,  character,  of  life  itself.  And  so  they 
become,  all  over  the  land,  living  engines  of  wrath  against  human 
society  itself.  When  the  lords  of  gold  tremble  for  the  safety  of 
their  widespread  investments,  let  them  remember  that  child  labor  is 
daily  creating  an  element  in  this  republic  more  dangerous  to  their 
physical  property  itself  than  ever  was  packed  in  dynamiters'  bombs. 
This  danger  is  not  only  manifested  in  incendiary  fires,  and  all 
the  manifestations  with  which  we  are  so  familiar,  but  it  will  soon 
manifest  itself  in  votes  to  the  destruction  of  the  very  purposes  and 
reason  for  which  this  government  of  free  and  equal  men  was 
founded. 

I  think  I  understand  personally  exactly  how  these  young  men 


Child  Labor  and  the  Nation  117 

and  women  who,  as  Dr.  Adler  said,  had  been  exhausted  in  their 
youth,  feel  when  they  attain  manhood.  I  myself  began  physical 
labor  earher  than  twelve,  hard  labor — too  hard  for  any  child  of 
eighteen  or  nineteen.  But  after  all,  that  was  in  the  open  air,  in  the 
field,  beautiful  with  the  waving  banners  of  the  corn,  and  fragrant 
with  the  smells  of  the  brown  earth,  upturned  by  the  ploughshare; 
it  was  on  the  grades  of  railways  with  great,  gross,  rough,  but  vital 
and  kindly  men  about  me,  it  was  in  the  logging  camps,  with  the 
majesty  of  the  woods  about  me.  It  was  bitter  work;  it  was  too 
heavy  for  any  child,  but,  after  all,  over  me  by  day  always  was  the 
marvelous  blue  of  God's  splendid  dome  or  the  glory  of  his  clouds, 
or  over  me  by  night  the  eternal  stars  kept  their  sentinel  watch  and 
always  there  was  the  pure  and  unpolluted  atmosphere  to  breathe, 
and  through  it  all,  now  and  then,  was  the  uplifting  influence  of 
religion,  and  finally  a  college,  and  then  all  those  influences  of  the 
true  and  the  beautiful  and  the  good  in  life. 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  all  that,  I  do  not  like  to  think  of  the  years 
from  twelve  to  nineteen,  because  it  makes  me  bitter.  But  suppose 
my  work  had  not  been  in  the  open  air?  Suppose  it  had  been  in  the 
cotton  mills  of  Georgia,  or  the  sweat  shops  of  New  York,  or  the 
glass  factories  of  West  Virginia,  or  on  the  breakers  of  the  mines  of 
Pennsylvania  ?  Suppose  I  had  been  forced  to  breathe  the  poison  and 
had  acquired  the  low  vices  and  habits  which  always  result  from  such 
physical  and  nervous  degeneracy.  Even  if,  as  it  is,  a  senseless  and 
unreasoning  resentment  begins  to  burn  in  my  breast,  what  would 
have  been  my  condition  of  mind  if  I  had  lived  the  life  that  the  child 
slaves  of  America  are  living  to-night? 

Our  papers  contain  much  resentment  if  one  anarchist  is  found 
among  our  European  immigrants.  Yet,  we  are  at  work  creating 
the  same  sort.  And  this  not  the  worst;  for  these  young  men  and 
young  women,  who  as  children  are  overworked,  through  their  veins 
running  the  poison  of  an  unthinking  hatred,  become  the  fathers 
and  mothers  of  degenerate  children.  These  go  to  work  at  the 
same  system  that  made  their  parents  incapable  of  having  perfect 
children,  made  them  the  ancestors  of  a  race  of  degenerates.  These 
are  the  facts.  This  is  the  truth,  and  I  say  to  you  to-night,  as  I  have 
been  saying  all  over  this  country  for  the  last  three  months,  that 
this  making  of  possible  anarchists  and  degenerates  in  America  has 
got  to  be  stopped. 


Ii8  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

We  cannot  leave  it  to  the  states  to  stop  it.  They  cannot  stop 
it  if  they  would,  and  they  would  not  stop  it  if  they  could.  In  the 
states,  for  example,  where  this  social  disease  is  most  violent,  the 
great  manufacturing  and  mining  interests  are  so  powerful  that  they 
prevent  the  passage  of  any  thorough  or  effective  state  law,  or  they 
do  what  is  a  great  deal  worse,  secure  the  passage  of  a  mutilated 
law,  leading  the  people  to  think  that  their  legislature  has  done  all 
they  could,  and  still  the  evil  goes  on.  And  often,  in  these  states, 
when  a  good  law  is  passed,  these  same  interests  remain  still  so 
powerful  with  the  Executive  Department  that  the  law  is  not  ex- 
ecuted, and  the  evil  goes  on.  Even  if  one  state  or  a  dozen  states 
were  to  pass  excellent  laws  and  thoroughly  enforce  them,  not  much 
would  be  accomplished,  because  the  evil  would  exist  in  other  states, 
and  still  go  on.  And  even  if  in  one,  or  a  dozen  states,  good  laws 
were  still  executed,  the  business  man  in  the  good  state  would  be  at 
a  disadvantage  to  the  business  man  in  the  bad  state,  because  the 
latter  could  employ  cheap  child  labor,  and  the  business  man  in  the 
good  state  could  not  employ  cheap  child  labor.  And  so,  by  this 
system  of  trying  to  end  a  national  evil  by  segregated  legislation,  the 
very  quality  of  the  American  citizen  is  destroyed. 

Here,  I  think,  is  the  generalization  which  decides  what  the 
state  should  do  and  what  the  Nation  must  do.  It  is  this,  when  an 
evil  is  a  national  evil,  it  must  be  cured  by  a  national  remedy. 
Where  the  evil  is  purely  local — where  it  is  confined  to  one  state  and 
no  other — that  state  might  possibly  be  left  to  cure  it.  For 
example,  if  child  labor  existed  in  no  place  in  the  United  States 
except  in  Ohio,  then  we  might,  perhaps,  consider  the  question  of 
leaving  to  Ohio  herself  the  curing  of  this  evil.  But  if  child  labor 
is  scattered  all  over  the  land,  if  some  states  are  clear  of  it,  and  others 
are  foul  with  it,  then  it  becomes  a  subject  for  the  combined  intelli- 
gence and  massed  morality  of  American  people  to  handle.  And 
even  if  every  state  in  the  Union  but  two  or  three  were  to  remedy 
the  evil  eflfectually,  still  those  two  or  three  states  would  be  pouring 
streams  of  bad  citizens  into  the  whole  Nation,  and  the  whole  Nation 
would  be  afifected  by  them,  because  every  citizen  is  a  citizen,  not  of 
one  state  only,  but  the  Nation  as  a  whole. 

And  so  we  see  clearly  that  this  matter  cannot  be  left  to  the 
states  to  handle,  first,  because  they  cannot  act  uniformly,  and  do 
not — never  have  on  any  subject,  not  on  any  subject.    Second,  they 


Child  Labor  and  the  Nation  119 

cannot  act  effectively,  even  if  they  were  so  disposed.  Third,  where 
one  state  acts  well,  and  another  state  acts  ill,  the  business  man  in  the 
latter  state  has  the  advantage  of  the  business  man  in  the  former 
state.  And  finally,  if  there  is  only  one  state  where  the  infamous 
practice  is  carried  on,  it  is  still  daily  pouring  pollution  into  the 
whole  body  of  American  citizenship. 

I  have  heard  it  said  the  past  week  in  conversation  on  the  floor 
of  the  senate — it  is  something  I  am  rather  familiar  with,  after  seven 
years  down  there — "Let  us  not  be  in  a  hurry  about  this  thing." 
Let  us  be  in  a  hurry  to  pass  a  currency  bill,  and  in  a  hurry  pass 
something  of  that  kind,  but  let  the  children  go.  They  say,  "Well, 
after  a  while,  in  time,  the  states  will  all  have  a  uniform  law,  uni- 
formly executed,  by  uniformly  good,  safe  and  honest  governors." 
Well,  if  such  an  impossible  day  should  ever  come,  we  know  that  it 
would  be  a  generation  from  now ;  and  in  the  meantime,  the  murder 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  American  children  would  go  on;  in 
the  meantime,  the  character  and  souls  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
American  children  would  be  ruined;  in  the  meantime,  other  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  American  children  would  be  forever  degen- 
erate— made  into  engines  of  wrath,  and  the  parents  of  still  other 
hundreds  of  thousands  engines  of  wrath. 

Shall  this  infamy  go  on?  Shall  this  undermining  of  the  very 
foundations  of  free  institutions  be  permitted  just  to  please  some 
well-meaning  theorists  on  the  one  hand,  and  some  selfish  dema- 
gogues and  millionaires  already  over-rich  with  unrighteous  wealth 
on  the  other  hand  ?  Shall  the  slaughter  of  the  innocents  and  recruit- 
ing of  this  swelling  army  of  degenerates  continue  while  we  endlessly 
debate,  in  Congress  and  elsewhere,  the  wisdom  of  curing  a  national 
infamy  by  a  national  law? 

Why,  what  is  this  Republic  for?  What  are  free  institutions 
for  ?  Why  did  we  ever  establish  this  Nation  of  liberty  ?  What  does 
the  flag  mean  ?  What  do  all  these  things  mean,  if  they  do  not  mean 
the  making  of  a  splendid  race  of  clean,  strong,  happy,  noble, 
exalted  charactered  men  and  women.  The  life  of  one  American 
child,  the  making  of  one  American  citizen  is  worth  one  hundred 
years  of  academic  discussion  about  the  danger  of  the  American 
people  curing  national  evils  through  national  government. 

We  hear  it  said  that  we  are  going  too  far  in  the  curing  of 
national  evils  by  national  laws.    But  isn't  the  contrary  true?    Have 


120  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

we  not  been  straining  the  other  theory  in  preventing  and  delaying 
the  nation  from  remedying  the  evils  of  the  nation?  Why  should 
the  barrier  of  the  states  be  interposed  in  the  national  reform  of  the 
national  evil  of  child  labor?  To  be  sure,  that  same  barrier  was 
raised  against  the  meat  inspection  bill,  but  the  aroused  conscience 
of  the  American  people  swept  it  away.  To  be  sure,  it  was  raised 
against  the  pure  food  bill,  but  the  American  people  said  that  the 
health  and  lives  of  themselves,  their  wives  and  their  children  were 
more  important  than  some  theory  which  did  not  affect  them. 

Last  session  we  passed  unanimously  the  national  quarantine 
law.  Its  purpose  was  to  protect  the  ports  of  our  Gulf  states,  and 
our  Pacific  states,  from  yellow  fever  and  bubonic  plague.  It  was 
an  absolute,  unqualified  and  admitted  denial  of  the  rights  of  those 
states.  For  one  hundred  years  each  one  of  them  had  had  its  own 
quarantine  laws.  And  yet,  from  the  very  beginning,  the  practical 
human  folly  of  it  was  seen,  because  if  yellow  fever  is  kept  out  of 
the  ports  of  one  state  and  let  in  through  the  ports  of  another  state, 
it  affects  the  people  of  both  states  and  the  whole  republic,  for  yellow 
fever  is  no  respecter  of  state  lines.  Yellow  fever  crosses  the  boun- 
daries of  states  without  stopping,  just  as  the  telegraph  and  the 
railroad,  and  our  agencies  of  good  cross  state  lines  without  stop- 
ping. Very  well,  if  the  theory  of  state  rights  was  yielded  by  the 
states  that  most  insisted  upon  them  in  order  to  pass  the  quarantine 
law  designed  to  prevent  yellow  fever  which  kills  possibly  twenty 
people  in  twenty  years,  cannot  it  also  yield  to  the  national  child 
labor  law  to  stop  that  crime  which  kills  and  ruins  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  American  children  every  year? 

At  the  great  meeting  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion for  Western  Ohio  and  Eastern  Indiana,  held  at  Richmond, 
Indiana,  a  few  weeks  ago,  I  formally  gave  notice  that  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  session,  I  would  introduce  a  bill  which  would 
cut  the  heart  out  of  this  evil  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  that,  having 
introduced  it,  I  would  fight  this  session  and  the  next  session,  and 
every  other  session  so  long  as  I  was  in  public  life  until  it  was 
passed.  I  say  to  you  to-night  that  I  have  redeemed  that  pledge.  I 
have  introduced  that  bill,  and  I  repeat  to  you  that  I  shall  fight  for 
it  this  session  as  I  fought  for  the  meat  inspection  and  pure  food 
bills  last  session,  and  will  fight  the  next  session,  and  the  session  after, 
if  its  enemies  can  for  so  long  delay  it,  until  it  shall  be  passed. 


Child  Labor  and  the  Nation  I2I 

It  is  a  very  simple  bill,  a  very  brief  bill.  It  provides  that  the 
carriers  of  interstate  commerce,  the  railroads  and  the  steamboat 
lines,  shall  not  transport  the  products  of  any  factory  or  mine  that 
employs  or  permits  the  labor  of  children  under  fourteen  years  of 
age.  It  provides  for  any  officer  of  a  factory  or  mine,  who  violates 
that  act,  the  punishment  of  a  money  fine  and  a  sentence  in  the 
penitentiary. 

I  spoke  about  the  difference  between  this  and  the  meat  bill,  and 
I  will  confess  that  I  drew  them  on  different  theories.  I  will  try  to 
make  it  clear  to  you  why,  although  it  is  a  complicated  legal  ques- 
tion. As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  constitution,  which  was  made  for 
the  people  and  not  for  the  lawyers,  is  a  very  simple  instrument. 
And  upon  that  point  I  wish  to  say  that  the  American  people  were 
not  made  for  the  constitution;  the  constitution  was  made  for  the 
American  people.  It  is  our  servant;  we  are  not  its  servants.  The 
difference  between  the  meat  inspection  bill  and  this  bill  is  just  this, 
the"  meat  bill  goes  directly  to  the  evil  and  says  to  the  packing  houses 
in  Illinois,  "If  your  products  are  intended  for  interstate  commerce, 
if  you  are  preparing  them  to  ship  into  another  state,  that  is  enough, 
railroad  or  no  railroad,  you  must  submit  to  the  inspection  of  these 
products  and  the  sanitation  of  these  factories  by  the  agents  of  the 
American  people's  national  government." 

I  at  first  thought  of  drawing  this  bill  on  these  lines,  and  saying, 
"Be  it  enacted,  that  no  factory  or  mine  whose  products  are  intended 
for  interstate  commerce  shall  employ  children  under  fourteen  years 
of  age,"  and  then  providing  a  fine  and  penalty.  I  did  not  do  it,  I 
will  frankly  say  here,  in  confidence  among  ourselves — there  are  only 
about  four  thousand  of  us  here  and  I  am  sure  what  I  say  will  not 
get  out — for  tactical  reasons:  first,  because  it  takes  hard  work  to 
get  any  of  these  bills  through— we  never  would  have  gotten  the 
meat  inspection  bill  through  in  the  world  but  for  that  mighty  storm 
of  wrath  which  the  revealed  facts  aroused  from  ocean  to  ocean, 
from  Mexico  to  the  Dominion,  and  even  as  it  was,  they  pulled  nearly 
all  the  teeth  out  of  the  bill — we  got  all  back  but  two — and  we  almost 
gained  those  two  when  we  finally  passed  the  bill.  I  did  not  follow 
the  strict  analogy  of  the  meat  bill  in  the  child  labor  bill,  first,  because 
a  plausible  though  not  valid  constitutional  argument  could  be  made 
against  such  a  bill  as  that.  Second,  because  I  feared  that  the  great 
factory  interests  of  the  south,  New  Jersey  and  of  Maine,  the  great 


122  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

mining  interests  everywhere,  would  all  combine  together  and  Join 
the  great  packing  interests,  and  they  would  not  only  defeat  this  bill, 
but  possibly  overthrow  the  meat  bill,  too. 

It  will  be  a  hard  struggle  with  the  individual  interests  alone, 
and  I  do  not  particularly  care  to  tackle  them  in  combination  with 
all  the  other  trusts  there  are  in  the  country  at  the  same  time. 

The  other  day  in  the  senate  somebody  said,  "I  wonder" — and 
then  looked  very  profound — "whether  the  men  who  drew  the  inter- 
state commerce  clause  of  the  American  Constitution  ever  contem- 
plated any  such  thing  as  we  are  doing?"  Why  certainly  they  did 
not.  Read  the  debates  on  the  interstate  commerce  clause  in  the 
national  convention,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  after  they 
were  made.  I  remember  Mr.  Pinckney,  one  of  the  ablest  men, 
said,  in  discussing  this  clause,  "The  interstate  commerce  clause  was 
designed  so  that  one  state  would  not  override  the  other."  He  said, 
"The  interests  of  New  England  are  and  always  will  be  rum  and 
fish."  He  said,  "The  interests  of  the  Southern  states  are  and  always 
will  be  cotton  and  indigo;  the  great  agricultural  centers  of  the 
country  are  and  always  will  be  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
New  York  is  the  only  one  that  is  a  manufacturing  center  that  will 
be  affected  by  free  trade."  It  was  under  such  debates  as  that  that 
the  interstate  commerce  clause  of  the  American  Constitution  was 
formed.  But  I  have  always  believed  that  every  one  of  the  saving 
clauses  in  that  instrument,  just  as  I  believed  that  everything  else 
that  has  occurred  in  American  history  was  directed  from  above. 
And  when  I  have  thought  about  that  interstate  commerce  clause — 
how  it  enables  the  people,  who  are  one  people  with  one  flag,  to  deal 
with  each  other,  I  have  felt  how  true  were  the  words  of  Emerson 
in  that  immortal  poem,  "The  Problem,"  and  how  true  it  was  when 
applied  to  the  interstate  commerce  clause : 

The  hand  that  rounded  Peter's  dome, 
That  crowns  the  hills  of  Christian  Rome, 
Wrought  in  a  sad  sincerity; 
Himself  from  God  he  could  not  free, 
He  builded  better  than  he  knew. 

So  this  bill,  which  proposed  in  a  national  way  to  stop  this 
national  evil,  is  so  drawn  that  its  entire  constitutionality  is  freely 
admitted  by  its  foes.     It  is  so  simple  and  effective  that  both  its 


Child  Labor  and  the  Nation  123 

friends  and  enemies  alike  concede  that  it  will  stop  the  evil  in  every 
great  factory  and  mine  throughout  the  entire  republic.  It  is 
resisted  upon  the  following  grounds:  First,  that  perhaps,  as  a 
matter  of  policy,  we  are  going  a  little  too  fast  and  too  far  in  the 
expansion  of  national  power  to  the  curing  of  national  evils.  Sec- 
ond, it  is  said  that  the  evils  of  child  labor  are  greatly  overdrawn, 
and  as  one  member  of  the  house  the  other  day  said,  *'This  is,  after 
all,  only  a  storm  blown  up  by  some  of  those  reformers ;"  and,  third,  K 
it  is  a  mighty  good  thing  for  the  child  to  have  it  work. 

Now  these  are  the  three  arguments  that  are  made  against  this 
bill.  These  are  the  points  you  will  see  discussed  in  the  newspapers. 
These  are  what  you  will  see  in  the  reports  of  the  debates  in  Con- 
gress. In  Washington  all  the  public  men  are  for  every  reform  of 
every  evil — "if  it  exists,"  they  say.  They  want  to  be  sure  that  it 
"exists,"  you  know. 

Many  of  the  worst  enemies  of  reform  are  apparently  for  it, 
but  earnestly  against  any  effective  method  of  handling  it.  One  of 
the  most  effective  ways  of  defeating  any  great  reform  measure  is 
for  its  enemies  to  divide  the  real  friends  of  the  reform  into  different 
groups,  each  earnestly  contending  as  to  which  is  the  best  of  several 
different  methods  of  curing  the  evil.  It  was  the  favorite  tactics  of 
the  great  Napoleon  on  the  battlefield  to  so  maneuver  as  to  get  the 
armies  of  the  enemy  separate!  into  smaller  armies,  and  then  subse- 
quently attacking  them  and  defeating  them  successively.  But  the 
legislative  Napoleons  do  better  than  that.  They  not  only  get  the 
real  friends  of  the  reform  divided  into  little  groups,  each  sincerely 
attached  to  a  different  method  of  effecting  the  reform,  but  they  so 
maneuver  as  to  get  these  groups  of  real  friends  of  the  reform 
contending  among  each  other,  wasting  time,  and  energy,  and 
strength,  instead  of  uniting  for  a  common  cause  against  a  common 
enemy  and  achieving  a  common  triumph.  And  wherever  the  enemies 
of  a  reform  have  got  its  friends  in  that  condition  their  victory  is 
assured. 

My  friends,  the  time  has  come  when  we  have  got  to  get  right 
down  to  earnest  business  in  this  great  cause.  We  have  got  to  appeal 
to  the  intelligence,  the  hearts,  the  morality  of  the  American  people. 
We  have  got  to  arouse  and  marshal  public  opinion  upon  this  meas- 
ure, and  when  you  make  such  an  appeal  to  the  American  people 
they  will  not  fail  us,  for  they  never  have  failed  to  respond  to  such 


124  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

an  appeal.    And  when  the  American  people  make  their  will  known 
to  Congress,  Congress  will  act. 

There  is  just  one  thing  that  will  unfailingly  move  the  American 
senate,  and  that  is  the  concentrated  and  crystallized  will  of  the 
American  people  spoken  in  terms  that  will  not  be  denied.  Oh ! 
these  American  people — that  they  shall  be  increasingly  the  mightiest 
power  for  righteousness  and  human  helpfulness  in  this  world,  is  the 
passion  of  my  life.  Let  us  all  do  what  we  can  to  help  make  them 
so.  We  glory  in  the  men  of  Concord  and  Valley  Forge,  and  we 
justly  glory  in  them.  Let  us  then  be  worthy  of  their  deeds  and 
their  memories,  and  cast  from  our  Nation  the  body  of  this  death 
to  which  it  is  bound.  Only  so  shall  our  flag  be  unsullied ;  only  so 
shall  we  indeed  be  "a  people  whose  god  is  the  Lord;"  and  only  so 
shall  this  "government  of  the  people,  for  the  people  and  by  the 
people"  not  perish  from  the  earth. 


THE  DIFFICULTIES  OF  A  FACTORY  INSPECTOR 


By  Hon.  Edgar  T.  Davies, 

Chief  Factory  Inspector  of  Illinois. 


Officials  who  are  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  laws,  and 
have  tried  to  do  their  full  duty,  are  naturally  very  jealous  of  their 
official  reputation.  I  personally  am  also  sincerely  interested  in  this 
proposition,  that  if  by  inadvertence  a  false  understanding  should  go 
out  through  this  country,  that  the  Illinois  glass  manufacturers  are 
not  obeying  the  law,  then  the  glass  companies  who  in  oth^r  states 
are  opposing  restrictive  measures  in  any  additional  legislation  which 
is  being  asked  for  by  various  organizations  interested  in  child  saving, 
will  say  to  the  advocates  of  such  measures,  ''See  here,  the  glass 
companies  of  Illinois  do  not  obey  the  child  labor  law  of  Illinois."  I 
understand  that  such  has  been  the  protest  of  the  glass  companies 
in  Ohio,  in  Pennsylvania  and  in  Indiana,  when  additional  or  restric- 
tive legislation  has  been  under  consideration  by  the  various  general 
assemblies  of  those  states. 

The  statement  that  the  Illinois  glass  companies  are  obeying  the 
law  is  a  statement  of  fact,  and  that  the  argument  might  not  be  lost, 
let  us  see  why  it  is  a  statement  of  fact. 

We  have  with  us  to-day  Mrs.  Van  der  Vaart,  who  was  the 
preceding  speaker,  and  who  in  her  remarks  said  that  she  had  recently 
investigated  the  glass  companies  located  at  East  St.  Louis  and 
Alton,  Illinois,  and  as  a  result  of  her  visit  to  these  two  localities,  she 
makes  the  broad  statement  that  the  child  labor  law  is  not  being 
enforced  against  the  glass  companies  in  Illinois.  We  have  many 
glass  companies  in  Illinois,  scattered  throughout  the  entire  state,  and 
a  statement  so  broad  as  the  one  made  by  the  preceding  speaker 
should  certainly  have  been  based  upon  a  visit  to  each  of  the  glass 
companies  within  the  state.  w 

A  statement  that  the  glass  companies  of  the  state  are  not  obey-  \ 

ing  the  law  reflects  not  only  on  the  two  localities  visited  by  the 

(I9S) 


126  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

speaker,  but  also  on  the  other  glass  companies  located  within  the 
state;  and  it  is  manifestly  unfair  to  say  that  these  other  companies 
are  not  obeying  the  law  without  first  having  visited  their  plants,  to 
see  if  they  were  complying  with  the  law  or  no.  If  they  are,  then 
give  them  credit ;  do  not  say  they  are  not  complying  unless  you  have 
evidence  to  substantiate  such  a  broad  statement. 

I  am  pleased  to  note  that  we  also  have  with  us  to-day  Mrs. 
Florence  Kelley,  my  predecessor.  Now,  then,  let  us  try  to  arrive  at 
the  right  conclusion.  When  Mrs.  Kelley  was  chief  inspector  of 
Illinois  the  glass  companies  were  in  business.  She  had  full  authority 
to  prosecute  and  convict.  In  her  book,  ''Some  Ethical  Gains 
Through  Legislation,"  she  says  that  she  found  there  were  eight 
hundred  children  employed  by  the  glass  companies  located  at  Alton ; 
many  of  the  children  being  of  very  small  stature  and  quite  young  in 
years.  Upon  taking  office  I  found  no  record  of  a  conviction  of  a 
glass  company  in  the  state.  I  make  no  reflection  upon  Mrs.  Kelley'^ 
administration ;  I  know  her  to  be  a  woman  who  was  sincerely  inter- 
ested in  her  work,  a  competent  official  who  accomplished  grand 
results.  I  do  not  speak  disparagingly  of  her  efforts,  because  I  know 
what  it  is  to  go  up  against  these  strong  combinations,  extensive 
employers  of  labor.  I  only  wish  I  had  been  able  to  help  her  in  her 
work. 

I  speak  of  this  because  of  the  great  difficulties  encountered  by 
the  official  in  the  securing  of  convictions  of  the  glass  companies 
who  violate  the  law.  During  my  administration,  as  chief  inspector, 
I  have  secured  the  conviction  of  every  glass  company  in  the  state, 
from  Galena  to  Cairo ;  and  had  prosecuted  and  convicted  the  Illinois 
Glass  Company  only  the  day  before  Mrs.  Van  der  Vaart's  visit  to 
Alton.  Our  inspectors  had  gone  to  Edwardsville,  the  county  seat  of 
Madison  County,  to  prosecute  the  company ;  they  believed  they  could 
there  secure  a  trial  along  less  partial  lines  than  in  Alton,  the  town 
in  which  the  glass  company  in  question  is  located.  I  have  the  court 
records  of  that  trial  in  my  hand  now;  $620  is  the  penalty  imposed 
upon  them  for  not  complying  with  the  child  labor  law.  And  this 
conviction,  if  you  please,  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  the  Alton  Glass 
Company  is  not  only  evasive,  but  constantly  on  the  lookout.  The 
w^hole  town  seems  to  be  with  them.  The  truant  officer  seems  to  be 
in  sympathy  with  them;  the  school  census  was  taken  in  the  spring 
and  the  superintendent  of  schools  never  got  it  until  many  months 


DifEciilties  of  a  Factory  Inspector  127 

afterward,  when  it  was  valueless,  because  it  had  been  held  up  by  the 
City  Council. 

It  is  reported  that  if  you,  a  stranger,  walk  into  the  town  and 
should  resemble  an  inspector,  the  glass  companies  know  it.  Should 
an  inspector  pass  a  saloon  or  any  of  the  stores,  some  one  telephones ; 
if  you  stop  at  the  hotel  the  glass  companies'  officials  know  you  are 
there.  This  glass  company's  plant  covers  many  acres;  it  is  claimed 
to  be  the  largest  glass  company  in  the  world ;  they  have  a  complete 
telephone  system.  This  great  piece  of  territory  is  all  fenced  in  with 
a  huge  fence  surmounted  with  barbed  wire ;  two  gates  for  the  inspec- 
tor to  get  in  and  lots  of  holes  for  the  kids  to  get  out.  It  was  only 
recently  in  an  address  delivered  by  me,  I  stated  that  laws  do  not 
enforce  themselves.  I  dwelt  upon  the  fact  that  machinery  cannot 
run  without  coal ;  that  it  required  fuel,  oil  and  water,  and  that  if  the 
legislature  failed  to  appropriate  sufficient  money  for  the  proper 
enforcement  of  the  laws,  do  not  blame  the  official. 

We  have  in  our  department  the  munificent  sum  of  ten  thousand 
dollars,  to  pay,  outside  of  salaries,  all  railroad  expenses,  hotel  bills, 
telephone  bills,  printing  bills,  office  expenses,  stenographers,  clerk 
hire  and  incidentals — ten  thousand  dollars  to  cover  a  territory 
embracing  three  hundred  and  fifty-two  towns.  It  is  a  shame.  There 
have  been  held  to  account  influential  gentlemen  of  the  appropriations 
committee  of  the  senate  and  the  house  for  their  failure  to  appropriate 
the  necessary  money.  Members  of  the  legislature  are  as  a  rule 
proud  of  their  record  made  in  the  legislature.  At  least,  when  they 
are  running  for  re-election,  they  come  and  tell  you  of  the  great  and 
good  bills  they  voted  for ;  they  voted  for  this  reform  and  that  reform, 
and  therefore  are  always  very  happy  to  have  their  legislative  record 
shown.  The  people  should  know,  and  I  take  the  liberty  of  stating  to 
you,  that  when  I  asked  for  an  appropriation  to  cover  a  deficiency, 
when  we  did  not  have  a  dollar  left  in  the  department,  and  three 
months  to  run,  a  certain  member  of  the  appropriations  committee 
told  a  member  from  my  own  district,  who  was  working  in  behalf  of 
the  allowance  of  the  requested  appropriation  being  made,  "No,  I 
think  we  will  leave  Davies ;  he  fined  a  friend  of  my  friend  $160  for 
violating  the  law.' 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  men  who  have  been  elected  to  office,  and 
who  have  in  their  power  the  authority  to  grant  or  refuse  to  grant 
adequate  appropriations — most  necessary  money — should  refuse,  and 


128  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

have  as  their  only  excuse  for  refusal,  the  fact  that  an  official  charged 
with  enforcing  the  law  had  done  his  duty. 

Do  you  people  know  or  realize  what  it  means  to  go  up  against 
the  glass  companies  of  Illinois?  Do  you  realize  what  it  is  to  have 
millions  of  dollars  invested  in  glass  companies  in  the  state,  and  to 
have  to  go  up  against  the  combined  forces  controlled  by  them? 
There  is  not  a  glass  company  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  not  one  of  them, 
that  I  have  not  convicted. 

Eight  hundred  children,  by  my  predecessor's  book,  were  em- 
ployed by  the  Alton  Glass  Company  in  1893.  Let  us  take  the  record 
now.  As  we  must  always  be  fair  to  employers  as  well  as  being  fair 
to  employees,  I  cannot  protest,  and  I  cannot  protest  too  strongly, 
against  people  who  make  the  statement  that  children  are  under  age, 
without  first  obtaining  proof  that  the  children  are  under  age;  be- 
cause you  cannot  go  on  your  own  judgment. 

I  have  been  an  inspector  and  head  of  a  department  for  almost 
six  years,  and  thousands  of  these  children  have  passed  through  my 
office.  I  have  carefully  noted  in  a  scientific  way  every  fact.  The 
usual  diflference  between  an  American  boy  and  a  Polish  boy  of  four- 
teen years  of  age  is  fifteen  pounds.  I  have  in  my  office  the  correct 
scientific  figures.  There  is  two  and  one-half  to  three  inches  usual 
diflference  between  the  height  of  a  Bohemian  boy  and  an  American 
boy  of  fourteen  years  of  age.  These  statistics  are  garnered  through 
the  system  in  vogue  in  our  office,  where  we  have  measured  and 
weighed  51,000  children.  You  must  take  into  consideration  the  fact 
that  the  working  children  are  dressed  poorly,  are  wearing  last  year's 
undersized  garments,  and  they  look  smaller  than  your  children  who 
are  dressed  in  up-to-date  garments.  These  and  other  facts  must 
always  be  taken  into  consideration. 

We  have  said  to  employers,  "We  demand  that  you  have  a  school 
certificate,"  and  therefore  it  is  no  more  than  our  duty  as  inspectors  to 
see  that  they  have,  but  if  they  have  we  should  say  to  the  employer, 
"This  school  certificate  will  protect  you  if  you  live  within  the  pro- 
visions of  the  law."  We  must  protect  the  employer  somewhere,  and 
the  person  to  be  prosecuted  is  not  the  employer  for  having  a  false 
certificate,  but  the  school  official  who  issued  the  false  certificate,  or 
the  person  who  falsified  in  obtaining  the  certificate.  Put  the  respon- 
sibility where  it  belongs. 

When  I  went  into  service  in  Illinois,  as  chief  factory  inspector, 


Difficulties  of  a  Factory  Inspector  129 

the  first  year  of  my  administration  the  IlHnois  Glass  Company  had 
three  hundred  and  seventy-seven  children  employed  many  of  whom 
were  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  there  were  many  hundreds 
of  children  employed  in  the  glass  companies  throughout  the  state. 
Is  the  Illinois  child  labor  law  enforced  in  the  glass  companies  of 
Illinois?    Let  us  see.    What  is  the  condition  to-day: 

Instead  of  three  hundred  and  seventy-seven  children  employed 
by  the  Illinois  Glass  Company,  many  of  whom  were  under  four- 
teen, there  are  now  eighty  children  employed ;  all  holding  certificates 
showing  them  to  be  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age ;  there 
may  be  some  on  false  certificates  who  are  under  fourteen. 

The  glass  companies  located  at  Streator  I  found  upon  taking 
office  had  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  children  employed ;  they  now 
have  twenty-three.  Obear-Nestor  Glass  Company  had  ninety-two 
children  employed;  they  now  have  thirty-two;  and  so  on  down 
through  the  line  of  glass  companies.  The  company  at  Alton  have 
one-fifth  of  the  child  employees  they  had  when  I  took  office.  The 
company  at  Streator  have  now  only  one-eleventh  of  the  child  em- 
ployees they  formerly  had,  during  the  year  previous  to  my  adminis- 
tration. 

I  want  to  say  that  these  thirty-two  indictments  referred  to  by 
Mrs.  Van  der  Vaart,  that  were  never  brought  to  trial,  were  not  in 
Illinois.  The  notary  public  affidavits  referred  to  by  her  as  being 
two  years  old  were  in  Indiana,  not  in  Illinois. 

Mr.  Joseph  Nestor,  manager  of  the  glass  company  at  East  St. 
Louis,  whom  I  personally  know,  and  whose  establishment  was  re- 
ferred to  indirectly  by  Mrs.  Van  der  Vaart  in  her  reference  to  the 
company  located  at  East  St.  Louis,  is  a  man  who  would  never  tell 
you  aught  but  the  truth.  When  our  inspectors,  in  talking  with  Mr. 
Nestor,  ask  him  if  he  has  been  obeying  or  violating  the  law  since 
they  have  been  gone,  he  will  give  them  a  truthful  answer. 

Although  we  have  indicted  Mr.  Nestor  on  thirty-eight  counts, 
and  have  several  times  prosecuted  him  for  violations  of  the  child 
labor  law  found  in  his  establishments,  we  have  never  found  him 
guilty  of  telling  a  lie  regarding  conditions  in  his  plant.  His  plant 
was  formerly  a  violator  of  the  law,  but  during  the  past  year  we  have 
found  no  flagrant  violations  there.  He  is  honestly  endeavoring  to 
have  his  establishment  strictly  comply  with  the  law  at  the  present 
time,  and  has  endeavored  to  do  so  for  a  long  while.    He  tried  to 


130  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

defeat  the  passage  of  the  child  labor  law  when  it  was  being  con- 
sidered by  the  legislature;  he  appeared  in  Springfield  in  the  open 
and  tried  to  prevent  the  measure  being  placed  upon  the  statute 
books,  because  he  did  not  want  its  restrictive  provisions  to  apply  to 
his  business. 

I  have  had  some  experience  in  child  labor  legislation ;  I  enforced 
the  old  law  of  Illinois ;  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which  drafted 
the  present  law.  A  brother  of  mine,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
general  assembly,  introduced  the  law  in  the  legislature,  and  now,  as 
the  proper  statutory  official,  I  hold  the  obligation  of  its  enforcement. 
I  refer  to  this,  to  make  clear  my  interest,  as  well  as  my  respon- 
sibility, in  the  work. 

During  the  years  of  my  administration  I  have  secured  convic- 
tions in  over  six  thousand  cases  of  violation ;  and  I  wish  I  could  say 
about  all  other  employers  of  child  labor  what  I  have  spoken  in 
regard  to  Mr.  Joseph  Nestor.  I  speak  of  him,  because  I  believe  in 
giving  an  employer  of  labor,  who  was  frank  enough  to  fight  the 
passage  of  the  law  in  the  open,  credit  for  obeying  that  law  after  it 
was  placed  upon  the  statute  books. 

Let  us  take  up  the  proposition  or  provision  which  prohibits 
night  work.  Somebody  told  me  to-day  that  the  Board  of  Health  of 
the  City  of  New  York  has  charge  of  the  enforcement  of  the  child 
labor  laws  of  New  York,  in  their  application  to  the  mercantile  estab- 
lishments, etc.  While  the  board  of  health  means  a  whole  lot,  the 
obligation  of  the  enforcement  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  an 
individual;  the  trouble  with  departments  of  health  or  boards  or 
commissions  is  that,  in  cases  of  complaint,  the  complaint  is  referred 
to  somebody ;  somebody  else  says,  "See  what  is  the  matter,  here  is  a 
complaint;  why  don't  you  investigate  it?"  It  is  referred  to  some- 
one else  for  investigation.  What  is  the  outcome  of  the  complaint? 
Usually  it  is  not  investigated,  and  if  it  is  the  complainant  does  not 
know  it. 

In  Chicago  we  have  the  largest  department  stores  in  the  coun- 
try outside  of  New  York  City.  We  had  in  the  fall  of  1902  fourteen 
hundred  children  in  the  department  stores;  when,  in  December, 
1903,  it  was  necessary  to  send  the  children  home  at  seven  o'clock; 
the  department  stores  were  to  be  open  during  the  evening;  I  was 
called  upon,  it  seems,  by  all  persons  they  could  muster  together 
and  asked  to  let  the  enforcement  of  the  law  go  until  they  could  get 


DiMcidties  of  a  Factory  Inspector  131 

in  shape.  They  said,  ''How  are  we  to  get  along  after  seven  o'clock 
unless  we  have  our  cash  boys  and  cash  girls,  our  boys  and  girls  to 
wrap  our  bundles?"  *'How  are  we  going  to  run  our  business  and 
keep  our  stores  open?"  *'We  cannot  run  our  own  cash  or  wrap 
our  bundles." 

It  is  the  same  all  along  the  line  in  many  other  industries.  I 
had  to  stand  the  pressure  of  the  argument,  the  pressure  political, 
and  sometimes  had  to  meet  the  argument  of  something  else,  which 
is  considered  by  some  a  material  one.  But  my  answer  is  a  matter 
of  record.  All  the  children  went  home,  some  fourteen  hundred  of 
them,  marching  out  at  seven  o'clock. 

I  want  to  say  that  it  is  easy  to  criticise ;  it  is  easy  to  find  fault 
with  officials,  but  officials  need  the  co-operation  of  charitable  or- 
ganizations and  philanthropic  bodies  that  will  help  the  inspector, 
aid  and  assist  him ;  stand  back  of  him  and  say,  "We  are  with  you, 
go  ahead  and  enforce  the  law."  Because  without  this  co-operation 
he  has  not  that  much-needed  public  support,  which  will  encourage 
and  help  him  in  doing  his  duty.  When  he  goes  into  a  county  he  is 
confronted,  not  only  by  divided  public  sentiment,  but  by  strong 
political  opposition. 

What  you  all  need  to  do  is  to  stand  back  of  the  inspectors  and 
officials  charged  with  enforcing  laws  and  make  them  do  their  duty, 
and  if  they  are  derelict  or  remiss  then  dismiss  them  summarily.  If 
they  have  done  their  duty,  support  them.  Do  not  withhold  your 
words  of  encouragement,  because  your  aid  and  your  assistance  and 
your  words  of  encouragement  are  his  greatest  source  of  support, 
and  your  word,  "that  his  duty  has  been  well  done,"  his  greatest 
hope  of  reward. 


THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF  CHILD  LABOR  LEGISLATION 


By  Starr  Cadwallader^  Esq., 
of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


I  shall  discuss  the  enforcement  of  the  Ohio  law  only  in  so  far 
as  it  applies  to  the  work  of  girls  under  eighteen  and  boys  under 
sixteen  after  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  in  Cleveland. 

Some  two  years  ago  the  Consumers'  League  of  Cleveland,  just 
before  the  holiday  shopping  began,  went  through  the  retail  district 
of  the  city  and  found,  as  in  former  years,  that  preparations  were 
being  made  in  various  stores  to  do  work  after  seven  o'clock — partly 
in  preparation  for  the  trade  of  the  next  day,  and  partly  for  other 
purposes.  The  members  of  the  league  went  to  the  factory  inspectors 
of  the  district  and  asked  for  enforcement  of  that  provision  of  the 
law.  The  factory  inspectors  of  the  district  excused  themselves  on 
the  ground  that  they  were  very  busy  inspecting  the  devices  for  the 
protection  of  machinery;  and  then,  too,  they  were  not  ready  to 
prosecute  any  one  engaged  in  the  retail  business  for  violations  of 
the  child  labor  law.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  stated  at  the  time 
that  they  were  not  in  favor  of  prosecution. 

The  members  of  the  league  then  went  to  the  City  Solicitor, 
asking  advice  as  to  what  could  be  done.  The  City  Solicitor  told 
them  that  if  they  were  perfectly  sure  the  law  was  being  violated, 
and  that  at  the  same  time  employers  were  cognizant  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  law,  he  thought  steps  could  be  taken  which  might 
help.  Although  the  members  of  the  league  had  made  investigations 
previously,  they  went  about  again  to  find  out  whether  copies  of  the 
law  were  posted  in  the  various  stores,  and  also  whether  children 
were  employed  during  the  hours  after  seven  o'clock.  They  found 
a  copy  of  the  law  somewhere  in  every  one  of  the  stores.  Sometimes 
it  had  fallen  behind  a  desk.  Sometimes  it  was  posted  in  a  room  on 
the  top  floor,  where,  perhaps,  it  had  not  been  seen  by  anybody  for 
weeks;  but  they  found  it,  and  they  found  in  every  case  that  the 

(XS3) 


Enforcement  of  Child  Labor  Legislation.  133 

employers  were  familiar  with  the  law.    They  also  found  that  chil- 
dren were  employed.     They  found  children  under  school  age,  as 
well  as  children  under  sixteen  and  under  eighteen,  employed  in  the 
evening.     A  member  who  made  inquiries  in  one  clothing  store  on 
Euclid  avenue  had  a  rather  humorous  experience.     There  were 
double  doors,  opening  one  to  the  right,  one  to  the  left.     At  either 
door  was  a  small  colored  boy.  They  were  very  beautifully  dressed  in 
purple  uniform,  with  brass  buttons  down  the  front.     They  wore 
caps  with  tassels,  and  white  gloves.     After  the  usual  inquiries  had 
been  made,  the  member  of  the  league  pointed  to  the  two  boys  and 
asked,  "What  about  those  boys?     Are  they  not  under  age?"     The 
manager  of  the   store   held   up  his   hands   and   said,   "Good   God, 
Madam!    Don't  take  those  boys  away  from  us!     We  have  just 
bought  those  uniforms,  and  they  were  made  to  order."    In  another 
store  on  Euclid  avenue  the  proprietor  calmly  said  that  they  em- 
ployed children  under  age,  and  that  he  intended  to  do  so  whenever 
they  were  needed.    When  it  was  stated  that  they  would  be  reported 
to  the  inspector,  he  was  very  little  concerned  about  that.     Return- 
ing to  the  City  Solicitor  with  the  information  which  he  had  asked, 
they  were  told  that  an  order   would  be  issued  to  the   Chief  of 
Police  calling  his  attention  to  the  law,  and  also  saying  that  the 
officers  should  see  that  the  law  was  enforced.     A  printed  copy  of 
this  letter,  together  with  a  printed  copy  of  the  law,  was  distributed 
by  the  police  on  the  various  beats,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  days 
a  delegation  arrived  at  the  City  Solicitor's  office.     The  delegation 
was  headed  by  an  attorney,  who,  on  entering,  said,  "We  have  come, 
Mr.  Baker,  to  talk  over  the  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  law. 
Of  course,  we  recognize  that  it  was  the  thing  for  you  to  call  atten- 
tion to  it  just  at  this  time — very  proper.    It  was  your  duty ;  but  we 
have  come  to  talk  it  over  with  you."    Then  various  members  of  the 
delegation  told  the  City  Solicitor  how  absolutely  impossible  it  would 
be  to  do  business  if  the  child  labor  law  were  enforced;  that  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  employ  boys  under  sixteen  and  girls  under 
eighteen  after  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  especially  during  the 
holiday  season;  that  otherwise  trade  could  not  go  on.     After  they 
had  talked  all  around  they  arose  and  were  bowing  themselves  out, 
saying  that  they  were  glad  to  have  had  the  interview.     Now  they 
were   quite   sure   everybody   understood   the    situation.     The    City 
Solicitor  then  said  that  he  would  regret  very  much  if  any  of  them 


134  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

went  away  under  a  misapprehension.  The  letter  sent  to  the  Chief 
of  PoHce  was  not  sent  because  it  was  the  hoHday  season,  or  because 
it  was  the  fitting  thing  to  do,  or  for  any  other  reason  than  that  it 
meant  just  what  it  said.  He  added  that  in  so  far  as  he  was  con- 
cerned he  intended  that  the  Chief  of  Pohce  siiould  see  that  this  law 
was  enforced  during  the  holiday  season  as  well  as  at  other  times. 
The  result  was  that  several  hundred  children  were  discharged  the 
first  year,  and  older  boys  and  girls,  or  men  and  women,  took  their 
places. 

The  State  Factory  Inspector  was  at  first  inclined  to  look  upon 
this  action  by  the  City  Solicitor  as  interference  with  his  preroga- 
tives. He  came  up  to  Cleveland  to  say  so.  After  two  years — it 
was  two  years  ago  that  this  order  was  first  issued  to  the  police — 
the  situation  is  something  like  this:  The  factory  inspectors  for 
the  district — one  of  them  has  been  changed — are  enforcing  the 
law  and  prosecuting  cases  of  violation.  There  is  co-operation  be- 
tween them  and  the  school  authorities  and  other  people  who  are 
interested  in  the  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  law. 

This  year,  before  the  Christmas  holidays,  advertisements  for 
boys  and  girls  were  put  in  this  form,  "Boys  over  sixteen  and  girls 
over  eighteen  wanted."  The  eflfect  of  all  this  has  been  wider  than 
that,  however,  upon  the  retail  stores.  The  laundries  are  now  making 
it  a  rule  not  to  employ  any  girl  under  eighteen  in  a  position  where 
night  work  is  possibly  required.  I  say  "possibly  required."  Night 
work  in  most  of  the  laundries  is  not  required  all  the  time,  but  only 
on  certain  days  of  the  week  and  in  certain  parts  of  the  laundry. 
The  telephone  companies  have  also  just  decided  to  employ  no  girls 
on  their  night  shifts  who  are  under  eighteen  years  of  age.  These 
changes  are  due,  in  part  at  least,  to  a  growing  public  sentiment  in 
favor  of  the  enforcement  of  the  law.  For  five  years  in  Cleveland 
something  has  been  done  to  create  opinion  in  favor  of  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  law,  and  to-day  the  situation  is  very  diflferent  from 
that  in  1901. 


THE  ATTITUDE  OF  SOCIETY  TOWARD  THE  CHILD  AS 
AN  INDEX  OF  CIVILIZATION^ 


By  Felix  Abler,  Ph.D., 
Chairman  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee. 


It  seems  at  first  almost  incredible  that  the  attitude  of  society 
toward  the  child  should  ever  have  been  otherwise  than  tender  and 
considerate.  It  is  almost  past  belief  that  in  a  country  and  civiliza- 
tion as  advanced  as  ours,  as  proud  of  its  humanity,  as  hospitable 
toward  all  good  causes,  it  should  be  necessary  for  the  members  of 
the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  to  convene  in  order  to  pray 
the  American  people  to  hold  their  protecting  hand  over  the  future 
citizens  of  this  republic  and  to  pray  enlightened  men  and  women  to 
brush  aside  the  web  of  sophistry  with  which  the  practice  of  exploit- 
ing the  young  child  has  been  defended. 

I  shall  detain  you  for  a  little  while  before  we  approach  the 
practical  question  which  is  before  us  to  ask  your  attention  to  a  brief 
historical  retrospect. 

We  find  to  our  amazement  that  far  down  in  primitive  ages, 
not  universally,  but  very  widely,  there  existed  cruel  and  inhuman 
practices  with  respect  to  children.  Even  the  higher  animals  are 
attached  to  their  oflfspring.  Even  the  lioness  defends  her  cubs ;  but 
it  seems  that  the  most  advanced  and  most  enlightened  of  nature's 
offspring,  man,  he  who  ascends  the  greatest  heights,  is  also  capable 
of  descending  to  depths  beneath  those  even  of  the  higher  brutes. 

The  explanation,  perhaps,  is  partly  to  be  found  in  the  extreme 
destitution  and  poverty  of  those  early  ancestors  of  ours ;  partly  in 
the  evil  influence  of  crass  and  fantastic  superstition.  We  find  that 
infanticide  was  widespread.  Seneca  boasted  that  exposure  of  chil- 
dren prevailed  among  the  Romans.  Children  were  sometimes  sold 
into  slavery.    Among  certain  tribes  a  child  was  killed  if  it  was  born 

lA  resum^  and  partial  report  of  Dr.  Adler's  opening  address  at  the  Third  Annual  Meet- 
ing of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  held  in  Music  Hall,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  December 
i3i  1906. 

(13S) 


136  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

in  stormy  weather  because  this  was  considered  an  ill  omen.  If  the 
child  cut  its  upper  front  teeth  before  it  cut  its  lower  front  teeth  it 
would  be  killed  because  this  was  an  ill  omen.  Deformed  children 
would  often  be  killed,  not  because  they  were  deformed,  but  because 
they  were  uncanny.  Mr.  Westermarck  in  his  book,  "The  Origin 
and  Development  of  Moral  Ideas,"  gives  many  examples  of  this 
sort.  In  some  places  it  was  customary  for  the  mother  to  have  the 
privilege  of  the  first  life,  the  first  infant;  and  after  that  it  was  at 
the  option  of  the  father  whether  the  child  should  live  or  not.  In 
other  cases,  the  mother  had  the  right  to  the  first  three  lives.  After 
that  she  was  compelled  to  bury  alive  her  offspring.  Cruel,  strange, 
fantastic  aberrations ! 

But  they  were  exceptional.  On  the  whole,  we  may  say  that 
wherever  extreme  poverty,  wherever  a  certain  frenzy  or  mania  did 
not  obsess  the  human  mind,  the  human  parent  was  kinder  to  his 
offspring  than  the  animal.  Indeed,  the  long  period  of  infancy  and 
parental  care  is  regarded  by  many  as  the  origin  of  man's  higher 
civilization,  as  a  means  of  developing  the  unselfish  instincts  by 
which  this  civilization  is  graced.  Human  parents  have  loved  their 
human  children  and  cared  for  them.  Natural  parental  love  has  been 
disturbed,  however,  at  times  all  along  the  line  of  human  develop- 
ment, and  is  still  disturbed  to-day  by  excessive  poverty  and  by 
frenzies.  This  modern  greed  of  wealth-getting  is  also  a  frenzy. 
We  cannot  regard  it  otherwise  than  in  the  nature  of  a  superstition, 
and  of  an  obsession  from  which  the  American  people  to-day  is 
rudely  awakening,  seeing  itself  on  the  brink  of  an  abyss. 

Next  to  the  development  and  occasional  vagaries  of  parental 
feeling,  there  have  been  at  different  periods  in  human  history  ideal- 
istic values  attached  to  children.  These  have  varied  in  different 
epochs.  What  I  mean  is  not  the  love  value,  the  emotional  prizing, 
but  certain  ideal  values  that  have  made  children  esteemed  and  cared 
for.  I  shall  mention  two  of  these,  and  then  proceed  to  that  which  'S 
characteristic  of  our  own  age,  upon  which  I  desire  to  dwell. 

The  first  of  these  idealistic  values,  aside  from  natural  affection, 
we  find  throughout  antiquity,  and  it  persists  in  large  measure  down 
to  the  present  day.  The  child  was  regarded  as  that  being  upon 
which  depended  the  continuance  of  the  life  of  the  parent  in  the 
hereafter.  Consider  what  this  meant,  that  a  father  or  mother 
facing  the  future  would  realize  that  upon  their  child — upon  their 


Attitude  of  Society  Toward  the  Child  137 

son,  especially,  but  also  upon  the  daughter,  would  depend  their  own 
continuance.  We  are  apt  to  think  in  these  modern  times  that  immor- 
tality is  assured,  considering  it  once  gained,  always  owned.  The 
ancient  view  was  different.  They  regarded  the  tenure  of  the  other 
life  as  precarious,  and  they  believed  that  it  depended  on  the  child — 
on  the  fidelity  of  the  child — to  insure  the  continuance  of  life  in 
another  world.  What  a  strange,  fantastic  idea  it  was !  The  picture 
is  that  of  the  disembodied  spirit  of  the  father  looking  back  after 
death  upon  this  earth  and  seeing  his  offspring,  who,  by  their  fidelity 
or  infidelity  to  his  memory,  decided  the  spiritual  preservation  of  him 
who  gave  them  being.  Men  believed  that  unless  the  funereal  rites 
were  properly  performed  the  spirit  would  be  compelled  to  haunt  the 
place  where  the  body  lay  and  would  find  no  rest.  Priam  prostrating 
himself  at  the  feet  of  Achilles,  kissing  the  hands  that  slew  his  son ; 
Antigone  sacrificing  her  life  for  the  privilege  of  sprinkling  sand 
on  her  brother's  body,  without  which  the  poor  ghost  could  not  rest, 
are  instances  in  point.  Then,  too,  there  was  brought  to  the  tomb,  at 
stated  times,  food  and  drink,  upon  which  the  life  of  the  deceased 
person  depended.  The  same  thought  in  a  higher  form  is  also  found 
in  the  Jewish  world  and  in  the  Christian  world,  where  it  is  believed, 
popularly,  at  least,  that  if  not  the  preservation,  yet  the  well-being 
of  ancestors  in  the  future  life  depends  upon  the  fidelity  with  which 
the  sons  repeat  the  mourner's  prayer  or  the  priest  performs  mass 
for  the  repose  of  the  deceased.  Now  this  was  one  idealistic  thought 
value  attaching  to  the  child.  A  parent  would  look  upon  his  child  in 
the  light  of  a  preserver  of  his  spiritual  existence  when  he  should 
have  left  this  earth. 

A  second  idealistic  value  attaching  to  the  child  is  more  con- 
spicuous in  those  states  of  society  in  which  society  is  divided  into 
hard  and  fast  classes;  as,  for  instance,  during  the  feudal  period 
in  Europe.  The  child,  especially  the  eldest  son,  is  regarded  as  the 
preserver,  not  so  much  of  the  life  of  his  parent,  as  of  something 
impersonal,  for  which  the  succession  of  generations  stands — the 
family,  the  family  name,  the  family  title,  the  family  property,  the 
family  rank.  The  advent  of  a  son  is  hailed  with  joy  because  upon 
him  depends  the  perpetuation  of  this  impersonal  thing  of  which  the 
different  ^fenerations  are  the  vehicles. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  follow  my  historical  retrospect  in  detail, 
not  wishing  to  wander  too  far  from  the  practical  question  which  we 


138  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

have  before  us.  This  background,  however,  may  serve  as  a  means 
of  throwing  into  greater  contrast  the  third  ideahstic  vahie  which 
attaches  to  the  child  to-day  concerning  which  we  are  not  always 
aware  how  modern  it  is.  For  upon  us  has  dawned  the  conception  of 
an  evolution,  and  in  the  light  of  that  we  feel  about  the  child,  and 
speculate  about  it,  and  do  for  it,  and  dream  about  it,  in  a  way  quite 
unknown  to  our  forebears.  The  child  to  us  is  no  longer  chiefly 
the  preserver  of  something  that  has  been,  either  of  the  parental  life 
or  of  the  family  name;  but  it  is  the  promise  of  something  that  is 
to  be.  The  idealistic  value  we  attach  to  the  child  is  that  we  see 
in  it  the  possibility  of  something  finer,  something  better,  something 
greater  on  this  earth  than  has  yet  been.  The  idealistic  view  of  the 
past  was  backward-looking;  ours  is  forward-looking,  and  especially 
is  this  true  of  us  in  America.  We  are  a  people  of  hope ;  we  are  pre- 
eminently priests  of  the  future.  It  is  the  greatest  mistake  to  sup- 
pose that  our  American  democracy,  or  the  American  nation,  is 
complete.  It  is  only  in  the  beginnings,  in  the  making.  What  gives 
our  country  greatness  is  the  great  men  whom  we  have  already 
produced  and  whom  we  honor.  But  those  great  men  are  only  the 
first  harbingers  of  a  greatness  which  no  human  eye  can  fairly  trace 
and  no  human  tongue  can  fully  describe,  which  rises  before  us  a 
divine  vision  and  a  dream.  This  American  democracy  exists  for  a 
purpose.  For  what  purpose?  To  create  an  environment  in  which 
the  liberty  of  each  shall  consist  with  the  liberty  of  all.  Is  that  our 
highest  and  best  work — to  create  a  government  in  which  every  one 
shall  be  well  fed,  and  every  one  well  clothed?  Is  this  our  dream?  Or 
does  not  our  American  democracy  rather  mean  for  us  the  develop- 
ment of  a  new  type  of  civilization,  of  entirely  new  conceptions  of  life, 
of  new  contributions  to  art  and  to  science,  and  to  social  living? 

And  now  we  have  reached  the  point  where  we  can  pass  on  and 
speak  of  practical  matters.  One  of  the  ancient  superstitions  of 
which  I  spoke  is  that  if  you  wish  to  build  a  great  edifice,  or  bridge, 
or  city  wall,  or  anything  that  shall  stand,  you  must  sacrifice  a  child's 
life,  take  a  child's  blood  and  paint  it  on  the  foundation  stone,  or 
bury  the  child  under  the  foundations.  As  late  as  only  a  few  years 
ago,  on  the  authority  of  Baring-Gould,  there  was  found  in  a  breach 
cut  in  the  city  walls  of  Bremen  when  they  were  demolished,  em- 
bedded in  the  foundation,  the  skeleton  of  a  child.  That  was  a  cruel 
superstition  of  the  past.    That  must  not  be  repeated  by  us.    We  must 


Attitude  of  Society  Toward  the  Child  139 

not  attempt  to  build  up  the  civilization  of  America  on  the  prostrate 
form  of  American  children.  We  must  not  return  to  those  ancient 
barbarisms.  We  must  not  allow  this  new  frenzy,  this  obsession, 
this  mania  of  money  making  at  any  cost,  to  lead  us  into  similar 
frightful  aberrations. 

Now  the  argument  which  has  been  chiefly  emphasized  in  this 
child  labor  movement,  is  that  we  must  not  allow  these  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  children  to  be  sacrificed.  No  one  can  tell  you  how 
many  there  are — there  is  a  dispute  whether  there  are  two  hundred 
thousand  or  two  millions,  no  one  knows  exactly,  the  statistics  being 
quite  imperfect,  how  many  hundreds  of  thousands  there  are — but 
there  are  at  least  hundreds  of  thousands  American  children  in  this 
land  who  are  exploited  and  prematurely  exhausted  by  the  burden 
of  toil  which  is  laid  upon  them. 

The  usual  argument  presented  is  that  this  premature  toil  exists 
and  that  physically  and  mentally  and  morally  it  lowers  the  standard 
of  civilization.  If  we  allow  this  thing  to  go  on,  it  is  said,  the  next 
generation,  that  has  been  maltreated  in  this  fashion,  that  has  been 
put  to  premature  labor  in  cotton  mills  and  in  mines  and  in  sweat 
shops,  this  next  generation  will  become  degenerate,  and  the  standard 
of  American  civilization  will  be  lowered.  I  admit  the  force  of  this 
argument.  Like  a  tree  that  is  made  to  bear  too  soon,  so  the  child 
when  made  to  labor  too  soon  is  exhausted.  I  have  heard  it  said  that 
for  the  child  to  go  to  work  is  good.  Some  strong,  robust  men  who 
have  worked  on  farms,  perhaps  worked  their  way  up,  have  an  idea 
that  work  is  good  for  little  children ;  but  work  on  the  farm  is  one 
thing,  and  work  in  a  cotton  mill,  especially  at  night,  and  work  in  a 
sweat  shop  and  work  in  a  cigar  shop,  breathing  the  dust  of  tobacco 
in  the  little  lungs,  is  quite  a  diflferent  matter.  That  does  not  make 
for  health,  that  does  not  make  for  physical  development.  Brush 
aside  then  that  sophistry.  The  child  under  fourteen  that  is  set  to 
work  is  physically  stunted,  is  mentally  crippled,  and  gets  no  chance 
at  the  time  when  his  mind  is  plastic,  to  be  in  school.  This  child  labor 
movement  must  be  accompanied  by  a  movement  for  compulsory 
education  in  every  state.  Morally  the  exploited  child  has  no  chance, 
partly  because  of  his  associations,  partly  because  of  the  craving  for 
drink  which  is  often  aroused  in  him  by  the  excessive  irritations  and 
nervous  exhaustion  to  which  he  is  subjected,  and  partly  because,  as 
Senator  Beveridge  has  told  us  on  another  occasion,  the  child  when 


140  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

treated  unfairly  in  his  youth,  becomes  anti-social  in  his  instincts, 
hates  the  society  that  has  deprived  him  of  sunshine,  and  is  fairly 
launched  on  a  career  of  crime.  Yes,  it  is  the  physical,  mental  and 
moral  degeneration  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  future  fathers  and 
mothers  of  this  country  to  which  we  have  got  to  put  an  end.  If  we 
continue  to  sanction  premature  child  labor  we  not  only  degrade  and 
lower  the  standard  of  citizenship,  but  we  prevent  that  future  growth, 
that  development  of  American  civilization,  that  new  type  of  man- 
hood which  we  must  give  to  the  world  in  order  to  contribute  to  the 
world's  riches.  We  prevent  the  evolution  of  that  type;  we  cut  off 
that  dream. 

And  now  in  closing  let  me  ask :  How  shall  we  remedy  this  great 
evil?  Shall  we  leave  this  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  states,  or  shall 
we  call  in  the  aid  of  the  nation  ?  Well,  I  am  one  of  those  conserva- 
tive radicals  who,  by  temperament,  by  prejudice  and  by  predilection, 
cling  to  local  self-government  and  dread  the  expansion  of  the  federal 
power.  I  believe  that,  in  the  first  place,  the  expansion  of  the  federal 
power  brings  with  it  a  certain  enfeeblement  of  the  responsibilities  of 
the  individual  and  of  the  states,  and  accustoms  us  to  turn  to  the 
national  government  in  matters  which  we  ought  to  take  care  of 
ourselves,  and  encourages  a  paternalistic  attitude.  I  believe  that 
local  governments  are  important,  because  our  national  representatives 
are  often  unacquainted  with  the  conditions  that  prevail  locally  and 
are  therefore  unable  to  properly  legislate  for  those  conditions  and 
those  needs.  I  believe  that  local  government  is  educative,  inasmuch 
as  it  fits  us  to  consider  and  wisely  act  upon  the  larger  public  ques- 
tions that  concern  the  nation. 

For  all  these  reasons  I  cling  with  every  fiber  of  my  being  to 
state  autonomy,  as  far  as  its  limits  can  possibly  be  extended.  And 
yet  the  question  has  got  to  be  faced  even  by  one  as  reluctant  to  face 
it  as  I  am,  whether  the  time  has  not  now  come  when,  despite  the 
emphasis  on  state  responsibility,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  ask  for 
an  exercise  of  national  power  and  authority  in  order  to  draw  back 
this  nation  from  this  precipice  on  the  brink  of  which  it  stands,  and 
cure  it  of  this  obsession,  this  frenzy  to  which  it  is  subjected.  When 
a  part  of  the  nation  acts  in  such  a  way  that  the  mischief  of  its  action 
extends  beyond  its  own  borders,  then  the  whole  nation  must  inter- 
vene. When  a  part  acts  in  such  a  way  that  even  if  the  mischief  does 
not  technically  and  literally  extend  beyond  its  borders,  yet  the  moral 


Attitude  of  Society  Toward  the  Child  141 

turpitude  of  its  action  is  an  offense  to  the  conscience  of  the  whole 
people,  then  the  whole  people  must  intervene  and  put  an  end  to  that 
offense  and  that  mischief,  as  in  the  case  of  slavery.  And  when  the 
state  authorities  are  powerless  or  insufficiently  competent  to  deal 
with  the  evil,  when  the  work  of  remedy  is  too  slow  in  the  most 
advanced  states,  then  we  are  bound  to  ask  what  is  it  that  enfeebles 
and  palsies  the  hands  of  the  state,  of  the  commonwealth,  and  we  are 
bound  to  ask  whether,  perhaps,  despite  our  reluctance,  the  hand  of 
the  great  mother  of  us  all  must  not  be  called  in  to  strengthen  the 
incompetent  and  unsatisfying  efforts  of  the  several  states.  What  is  it 
then  that  prevents  the  abolition  of  child  labor  in  the  different  com- 
monwealths ;  what  is  it  that  prevents  the  satisfactory  enforcement 
of  child  labor  laws,  after  they  have  been  put  on  the  statute  books. 
It  is  the  power  of  those  commercial  and  industrial  interests  that 
exploit  the  child  which  prevents  the  execution  of  the  law  and  retards 
the  enforcement  of  the  law.  It  is  those  powerful  interests — too 
powerful  in  many  states — against  whose  unenlightened  selfishness 
the  law  is  directed  that  make  the  work  of  reformation  so  tardy  in 
the  most  advanced  states  and  so  wholly  unsatisfactory  in  the  back- 
ward states.  And  what  are  the  forces  we  have  at  our  command  to 
deal  with  those  powerful  interests  in  the  several  states.  There  is 
no  other  but  public  sentiment.  Public  sentiment  is  the  only  force 
that  can  avail  to  drive  back  those  large,  powerful  interests.  But  in 
the  several  states  public  sentiment  acts  spasmodically,  acts  tenta- 
tively, goes  to  sleep  and  wakes  up  again,  gathers  force  and  loses 
force,  and  therefore  the  question  arises  whether  to  overcome  these 
interests  and  evil  forces  it  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  open  the 
sluice  gates  and  let  the  wave  of  national  sentiment  come  in  and 
sweep  away  the  evils  of  unrighteousness  in  the  several  states,  how- 
ever strongly  they  may  be  entrenched. 

There  is  an  old,  beautiful  saying  of  a  Greek  dramatist,  "The 
sea  washes  away  all  sins."  Perhaps  the  time  has  come,  and  I  expect 
to  hear  from  others  whether  in  their  opinion  it  has  come,  that  we 
must  let  in  the  sea  of  national  patriotism  to  sweep  away  our 
economic  sins. 


Reports  from  State  and  Local  Child  Labor 
Committees  and   Consumers'  Leagues 

Made  to  the  National  Committee  at  the  Third  Annual  Convention^  Held 
in  Cincinnati^  December  13-15 ^  1906, 


REPORT  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 

Since  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  in 
December,  1905,  the  New  York  committee  has  been  actively  engaged  in  pur- 
suing the  work  for  which  it  was  organized  in  1902,  namely:  "To  increase  the 
efficiency  of  existing  child  labor  laws  by  securing  legislation  in  the  form  of 
amendments  which  may  seem  necessary;  to  assist  the  authorities  in  the 
enforcement  of  laws  relating  to  compulsory  education  and  child  labor,  and 
to  educate  public  sentiment  concerning  the  preventing  of  child  labor." 

The  legislative  work  of  the  committee  at  the  last  session  of  the  New 
York  legislature  was  attended  with  considerable  success,  and  a  number  of 
measures  were  passed  which  mark  a  real  advance  in  child  labor  legislation. 
The  most  notable  of  these  was  the  law  bringing  New  York  State  practically 
into  line  with  Illinois,  Ohio  and  Massachusetts  in  the  matter  of  evening 
work.  Formerly  children  under  sixteen  were  allowed  to  work  in  factories  in 
our  state  as  late  as  9  o'clock  at  night,  and  in  stores,  messenger  offices,  res- 
taurants, hotels  and  apartment  houses  until  10  o'clock.  Since  October  i, 
1906,  the  closing  hour  has  become  7  p.  m.  for  all  establishments,  with  the 
exception  of  places  outside  of  New  York  and  Buffalo,  where  the  10  o'clock 
provision  regarding  mercantile  establishments  remains  unchanged.  The 
enforcement  of  this  new  law  will  be  watched  with  much  interest,  particularly 
in  New  York  City,  during  the  busy  holiday  season. 

Through  the  vigorous  protests  of  the  committee  and  of  its  contributors 
and  endorsers,  a  serious  situation  was  averted  last  spring  when  the  legislature 
early  in  the  session  not  only  failed  to  give  the  state  department  of  labor  a 
larger  appropriation  in  order  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  this  law-enforcing 
body,  but  reduced  the  appropriation  $8,000  under  that  of  the  previous  year.  As 
a  result  of  the  agitation  of  the  committee  and  of  other  interested  organizations 
and  friends  the  department  finally  received  the  increased  appropriation  sought 
after,  and  the  appointment  of  twelve  additional  inspectors  was  made  possible. 
Several  other  bills  which  would  have  had  a  tendency  to  weaken  the  child 
labor  law  were  actively  opposed  by  the  committee  and  failed  of  passage. 

It  is  with  much  pleasure  that  the  committee  is  able  to  report  a  marked 
improvement  in  the  adequacy  of  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  with  respect 

(I4») 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  143 

to  the  employment  of  children  in  factories.  The  administration  of  Hon.  P. 
Tecumseh  Sherman,  the  head  of  the  State  Department  of  Labor,  has  been 
full  of  encouragement  to  the  members  of  our  committee.  While  not  agreeing 
fully  with  all  of  the  provisions  of  the  law,  he  has  shown  a  determination  to 
conscientiously  enforce  the  law  in  so  far  as  he  was  able  with  the  number 
of  inspectors  at  the  command  of  the  department.  The  most  notable  advance 
made  by  this  department  has  been  in  the  matter  of  prosecutions  of  employers. 
For  the  year  ending  September  30,  1906,  proceedings  for  violations  of  the 
law  with  respect  to  the  employment  of  children  were  commenced  against 
121  employers,  covering  192  instances  of  children  illegally  employed,  and 
$810  in  fines  were  collected.  The  report  for  the  year  ending  September  30, 
1904,  of  the  preceding  commissioner  of  labor,  shows  fifteen  employers  prose- 
cuted for  illegally  employing  twenty-one  children,  and  $135  fines  collected. 

A  great  deal  of  attention  of  the  committee  has  been  centered  upon 
efforts  to  secure  through  official  channels  a  better  enforcement  of  the  com- 
pulsory education  law.  A  careful  study  of  the  situation  has  shown  that  the 
ambiguity  and  complex  wording  of  the  present  law  are  the  most  serious 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  proper  enforcement.  This  is  especially  true  in 
New  York  City  with  respect  to  attendance  of  children  fourteen  and  fifteen 
years  of  age  who  are  required  to  attend  school  unless  regularly  and  lawfully 
at  work.  Our  investigations  have  shown  that  the  law  breaks  down  seriously 
at  this  point,  and  it  is  therefore  the  desire  of  the  committee  to  secure  at  the 
next  session  of  the  legislature  some  amendments  which  will  meet  this  serious 
difficulty.  Because  of  its  great  importance  for  compulsory  attendance  pur- 
poses, our  committee  for  more  than  a  year,  together  with  other  organizations, 
has  been  strongly  urging  an  adequate  school  census  of  New  York  City.  The 
taking  of  such  a  census  every  two  years  is  required  by  a  state  law,  but  has 
been  allowed  to  lapse  since  1897.  As  a  result  of  the  agitation  of  the  com- 
mittee and  other  social  organizations  the  State  Department  of  Education 
instituted  the  taking  of  such  a  census  throughout  the  state  in  October  of 
this  year.  The  committee  has  been  closely  associated  with  the  school 
officials  in  New  York  City  who  have  been  responsible  for  the  enumeration, 
and  has  assisted,  by  suggestion  and  in  other  ways,  in  the  preparation  of  the 
census  schedule.  Although  begim  on  October  23d,  the  canvass  throughout 
the  five  boroughs  of  Greater  New  York  is  not  yet  completed.  The 
tabulation  of  the  data  secured  is  under  way,  but  it  will  take  several  months 
to  fully  compile  the  facts.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  or  not  the  children 
shown  by  the  census  unlawfully  absent  from  school  are  promptly  followed 
up  and  placed  in  school.  Unless  immediate  attention  is  given  to  this  part 
of  the  work,  the  census  will  be  of  very  little  practical  value  for  compulsory 
attendance  purposes,  because  of  the  large  amount  of  shifting  of  families  from 
one  address  to  another  in  a  city  of  the  population  of  New  York. 

In  our  state  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  with  respect  to  the  employment 
of  children  in  stores,  messenger  offices,  restaurants,  hotels,  apartment  houses, 
etc.,  is  in  the  hands  of  local  health  boards,  A  study  of  enforcement  of  these 
provisions  under  these  boards  has  shown  that  there  is  a  distinct  tendency 


144  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

to  subordinate  this  work  to  the  sanitary  duties  of  such  health  boards,  much 
to  the  detriment  of  the  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  laws.  If  an  adequate 
enforcement  of  the  law  by  the  present  authorities  cannot  be  secured,  our 
committee  will  probably  take  steps  to  secure  legislation  transferring  the 
responsibility  to  other  authorities. 

The  condition  of  the  street  trades  with  respect  to  employment  of  chil- 
dren is  as  unsatisfactory  as  reported  to  this  committee  a  year  ago.  The 
special  squad  of  plain-clothes  men  assigned  by  the  police  department  to  the 
duty  of  enforcing  the  so-called  newsboy  law  was  transferred,  in  February 
last,  to  other  duties,  and  the  responsibility  of  enforcing  the  law  was  again 
put  upon  the  regular  uniformed  police,  with  the  result  that  the  law  is  as 
much  a  dead  letter  as  it  was  before  the  days  of  the  special  squad.  As 
the  members  of  our  committee  were  not  clear  whether  the  fault  for  this 
condition  was  to  be  found  in  the  law  itself  or  in  its  administration,  a  paid 
investigator  has  been  carefully  studying  the  entire  problem  since  July.  It 
is  hoped  by  the  first  of  January  to  have  a  report  upon  this  subject,  and  to  be 
able  then  to  reach  some  solution  of  the  difficulty. 

At  the  meeting  of  this  committee  a  year  ago  Miss  Lillian  Wald,  a 
member  of  the  New  York  committee,  spoke  of  the  establishment  of  child 
labor  scholarships  by  our  committee.  It  will  be  recalled  that  these  scholar- 
ships were  created  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  hardship  to  a  child  laborer's 
family  when  the  child's  illegal  earnings  were  really  needed.  An  equally 
important  object  of  these  scholarships  is  to  remove  from  the  minds  of 
officials  who  were  charged  with  enforcing  the  law  any  fear  of  causing 
suffering  to  a  family  by  requiring  a  full  compliance  with  the  law.  This  plan 
of  substituting  children's  earnings  where  it  was  proved  such  earnings  were 
genuinely  needed,  has  now  been  in  effect  in  New  York  City  for  nearly  fifteen 
months.  As  the  scheme  has  become  better  understood  by  school  officials  and 
others  who  refer  applications  for  scholarships  to  our  committee,  there  is  a 
distinct  tendency  to  bring  to  our  attention  more  cases  which  are  directly 
within  the  scope  of  the  fund,  and  probably  more  instances  of  genuine  poverty. 
Without  going  into  details,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  those  present  to  know 
the  general  results  of  this  work.  For  the  year  ending  October  i,  1905 — the 
first  year  of  the  plan — 345  applications  were  received  and  investigated,  either 
by  the  committee  or  at  our  request  by  representatives  of  the  relief  societies. 
Of  this  number  203,  or  59  per  cent,  were  deemed  not  to  be  in  need  of  assist- 
ance. Of  the  remaining  142  cases,  or  41  per  cent,  help  in  the  form  of 
scholarships  was  given  in  sixty-two  instances,  while  in  the  other  eighty 
cases,  in  many  of  which  the  need  was  only  temporary,  assistance  was  pro- 
vided through  the  various  relief  societies.  These  scholarships  vary  in 
amount  from  $1  to  $3  a  week,  and  extend  over  a  period  of  from  three  to 
thirteen  months.  The  holders  are  required  to  present  weekly  at  the  office 
of  the  committee  a  card  signed  by  the  school  principal  certifying  to  their 
regular  attendance  at  school.  For  the  first  year  $2,500  was  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  committee  for  this  work,  and  this  amount  was  sufficient  to 
meet  all  demands  upon  the  funds.     The  large  number  of  applications  for 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  I45 

assistance  from  this  fund  which  have  been  coming  to  the  committee  during 
the  first  quarter  of  the  second  year  of  this  work  indicates  that  from  $i,ooo 
to  $2,000  additional  will  probably  be  necessary  to  meet  the  needs  of  this 
work  for  the  second  year.  We  are  happy  to  announce  that  this  additional 
money  has  been  already  promised,  so  that  the  continuance  of  the  plan  is 
assured.  The  committee  is  convinced  of  the  practical  value  of  this  plan, 
not  so  much  as  a  means  of  assisting  worthy  families,  but  for  the  purpose  ot 
disarming  public  criticism  in  regard  to  the  poverty  plea  for  child  labor. 
Another  very  valuable  result  of  this  phase  of  our  work  is  the  moral  and 
educational  effect  upon  both  children  and  officials  that  the  law  cannot  be 
evaded.  Much  important  data,  otherwise  unobtainable,  regarding  the  way 
in  which  the  laws  are  actually  being  enforced,  has  also  been  secured  through 
the  correspondence  and  visiting  of  our  paid  visitor  for  scholarship  work. 

A  new  line  of  investigation  has  recently  been  entered  upon  by  our 
committee,  namely,  a  study  of  the  condition  of  children  working  in  tenement 
homes.  In  conjunction  with  the  College  Settlement  Association  of  New 
York  City  and  the  Consumers'  League,  a  paid  investigator  is  now  giving  all 
her  time  to  this  work,  and  is  finding  startling  conditions  among  the  child 
workers  in  the  dark  and  badly  ventilated  tenements  of  our  great  city.  It 
is  hoped  that  in  the  near  future  some  legislation  may  be  secured  to  protect 
these  children,  who,  if  attending  school,  are  not  at  present  otherwise  covered 
by  the  law. 

For  the  coming  year  the  committee  has  under  consideration  the  following 
subjects  for  a  legislative  action;  a  prohibition  against  the  employment  of 
children  under  sixteen  in  the  fourteen  dangerous  occupations  specified  in  the 
Illinois  law: 

An  eight-hour  day  for  children ;  a  transfer  to  the  children's  courts  of 
jurisdiction  over  cases  against  employers  for  violating  provisions  of  the 
labor  law,  and  against  parents  for  allowing  children  to  remain  unlawfully 
absent  from  school,  and  appointment  of  additional  inspectors  to  strengthen 
the  hands  of  the  department  of  labor. 

George  Hall^  Secretary. 
New  York,  December  12,  1906. 


REPORT   OF  THE   MISSOURI   CHILD  LABOR   COMMITTEE. 

I.  The  comfortable  conviction  that  Missouri  has  been  and  is  relatively 
free  from  the  evils  of  child  labor  has,  I  think,  been  rather  widely  cherished 
by  good  people  in  this  state.  The  laws,  though  confessedly  not  models  of 
their  kind,  at  least  prohibit  the  employment  of  children  under  fourteen  in 
factories  and  mines ;  the  industries  which  most  tempt  to  violations  of  such 
laws — the  textile  and  glass  industries  and  coal  mining — are  among  the  least 
important  in  the  state;  and  these  two  facts  have  sufficed  to  engender  the 
optimistic  supposition  that,  although  there  was  doubtless  room  for  improve- 
ment, Missouri  was  on  the  whole  fairly  well  off  in  this  respect.     To  this 


146  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

supposition,  in  fact,  the  present  reporter  and  other  members  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Children's  Protective  Alliance  inclined  when  that  Alli- 
ance was  first  organized.  Yet  a  little  examination  of  the  last  census  would 
have  shown  that^  in  1900  at  all  events,  Missouri  had  an  exceptionally  bad 
standing  in  the  matter  of  child  labor.  The  census  reports  on  such  subjects 
doubtless  depart  widely  from  perfect  accuracy ;  but  their  error  in  the  recording 
of  child  labor  is  likely  to  be  rather  by  defect  than  excess,  and  there  seems 
to  be  no  reason  to  doubt  their  trustworthiness  for  purposes  of  comparison 
between  the  states.  In  the  last  census  year  Missouri  employed  children  to  a 
degree  out  of  proportion  to  its  industrial  importance.  Ranking  as  eleventh 
state  in  manufactures,  with  regard  to  the  number  of  wage-earners  employed, 
and  tenth  with  regard  to  the  amount  of  capital  invested,  Missouri  stood 
eighth  in  the  number  of  children  between  ten  and  fourteen  years  of  age 
engaged  in  gainful  occupations  other  than  agriculture;  8,648  boys  were  so 
employed  and  4,542  girls,  a  total  of  13,190  children  under  fourteen,  being 
a  little  less  than  four  per  cent  of  all  children  in  the  state  between  ten 
and  fourteen.  This  represented  an  increase  of  about  5,550  over  the  (not  very 
reliable)  figures  of  1890  How  many  of  these  children  were  employed  in 
violation  of  the  law  it  is  impossible  to  say;  but  the  law  at  that  time  forbade 
the  employment  of  children  under  fourteen  in  factories,  while  the  census 
report  shows  400  between  ten  and  thirteen  years,  inclusive,  in  tobacco,  shoe- 
making  and  printing  establishments  alone.  Equally  detailed  figures  of  more 
recent  date  are  not  available,  as  the  eflfort  of  the  Children's  Protective  Alli- 
ance to  get  a  new  and  comprehensive  investigation  made,  with  the  help  of  the 
State  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Statistics,  has  thus  far  borne  no  fruit.  The 
situation  has  undoubtedly  improved,  chiefly  as  a  result  of  the  passage  of  the 
state's  first  compulsory  education  law  by  the  last  legislature  (1905);  thus 
the  chief  truant  officer  of  St.  Louis,  Mr.  J.  B.  Quinn,  informs  me  that,  out 
of  the  3,000  children  added  to  the  schools  of  that  city  through  the  enforce- 
ment of  this  new  law,  some  2,000  were  taken  from  industrial  employment. 
In  St.  Joseph  the  truant  officer,  Mr.  Harvey  Nash,  reports  that,  in  round 
numbers,  out  of  1,000  additional  children  under  fourteen  brought  into  the 
schools  there  by  the  compulsory  attendance  law,  three  hundred  were  taken 
from  work,  many  of  these  having  been  employed  in  violation  of  the  already 
existing  child  labor  laws.  These  figures  show  the  badness  of  the  situation 
before  the  new  attendance  law  became  eff^ective  as  eloquently  as  they  do  the 
service  which  that  law  has  already  rendered.  But  even  since  the  enactment 
of  this  beneficent  though  inadequate  statute,  there  is  a  good  deal  of  evidence 
that  child  labor  exists  in  Missouri  to  a  degree  and  in  kinds  altogether 
intolerable;  and  it  is  open  to  serious  question  whether,  even  with  the 
improved  laws  of  1905,  we  have  done  more  than  prevent  the  evil  from 
extending,  by  off^setting  the  tendencies  (such  as  a  large  Russian-Jewish  and 
South  European  immigration,  and  a  great  multiplication  of  factories)  which 
have  made  since  1900  for  the  increase  of  child  labor.  It  is,  indeed,  true  that 
the  report  of  the  State  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  for  1905  records  the 
employment  of  only  6,Z7Z  minors  under  sixteen  years  in  factories,  but  these 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Commiffees  147 

reports — through  the  fault  of  the  system  and  the  laws,  not  of  the  officials 
in  charge — are  so  unreliable,  especially  in  such  a  matter,  as  to  be  practically 
negligible.  The  reports  are  derived  chiefly  from  written  answers  to  ques- 
tions sent  managers  and  superintendents;  the  inherent  probability  that  under- 
age employees  would  not  be  reported  at  all  is  shown  to  correspond  to  the 
fact  by  a  comparison  between  these  state  returns  and  those  of  the  United 
States  census. .  Whereas  the  census  reports  over  13,000  children  under  four- 
teen years  to  have  been  employed  in  1900  in  gainful  occupations  other  than 
agriculture,  the  state  report  for  1902 — the  nearest  year  in  which  such  records 
were  kept — shows  only  6,450  employees  in  factories  under  sixteen  years. 
More  precise  evidence  of  the  questionable  accuracy  of  the  state  labor  reports 
may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  census  of  1900  shows  1,998  females  over 
sixteen  years  employed  in  shoe  factories  in  St.  Louis,  while  the  state  report 
for  the  same  year  shows  only  844  females  of  all  ages  in  the  same  factories 
in  the  same  city;  or,  again,  that  the  census  shows  1,713  females  over  sixteen 
employed  in  tobacco  factories  in  St.  Louis,  while  the  state  report  shows  only 
1,248  females  of  all  ages  in  such  factories.  Here,  in  one  case,  is  a  discrepancy 
of  1,000  in  the  returns  for  a  single  sex  in  a  single  industry  in  a  single  city; 
and  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  be  all  due  to  the  inflation  of  the  census 
returns.  In  view  of  such  facts  it  seems  necessary  to  disregard  the  evidence 
of  the  state  labor  reports  altogether.  And  the  serious  doubt  therefore  remains 
whether  the  child  labor  situation  in  Missouri  has  greatly  improved,  even 
after  the  series  of  well-meant,  more  or  less  helpful,  but  loosely  conceived 
and  partially  ineffective  legislative  measures  of  the  past  five  years. 

A  single  instance  may  be  cited  of  the  sort  of  facts  that  gives  color  to 
such  doubts.  St.  Louis  should  be  freer  than  any  community  in  the  state  from 
violations  of  the  existing  statutes,  since  it  is  the  headquarters  of  the  state 
factory  inspector,  an  official  who  is  sincerely  interested  in  the  work  of 
eliminating  child  labor,  and  since,  also,  the  city  has  a  vigorous  and  intelli- 
gent enforcement  of  the  compulsory  education  law.  Yet  quite  recently  Mr. 
Owen  R.  Lovejoy,  assistant  secretary  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee, 
while  passing  through  the  city  on  another  errand,  made  a  visit  to  the  glass 
bottle  house  connected  with  one  of  the  largest  and  best  conducted  of  the 
breweries,  and  declared  that  he  had  seen  nothing  outside  of  Wheeling  and 
Pittsburg  that  was  worse  in  kind.  The  present  reporter  was  led  by  this 
statement  of  Mr.  Lovejoy's  to  go  down  to  the  place  to  see  for  himself,  and 
found  between  twenty  and  thirty  boys  under  sixteen  employed  on  both  day 
and  night  shifts — perhaps  fifty  altogether.  Of  these  nearly  half  appeared  to 
be  under  age ;  they  were  certainly  under  size ;  and  it  has  since  been  shown 
that  several  of  these  boys,  working  from  5  p.  m.  to  3.30  a.  m.,  under  the 
peculiarly  unhealthful  conditions  and  with  the  feverish  activity  characteristic 
of  the  glass  industry,  were  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age.  This  sort  of  thing 
had  apparently  been  going  on  for  an  indefinite  period  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  factory  inspection  and  compulsory  attendance  officials,  and  was 
brought  to  light  only  as  the  result  of  a  casual  visit  by  an  expert  of  the 
National  Committee's  staff.     This  particular  situation,  I  am  happy  to  say, 


148  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

has  since  been  rectified  through  the  efforts  of  the  chief  truant  officer,  who 
has  induced  the  superintendent  to  do  considerably  more  than  the  present 
laws  require. 

It  is,  however,  scarcely  necessary  either  to  cite  special  cases  or  to  pile 
up  statistical  summaries,  to  establish  the  probability  of  the  existence  of  child 
labor  on  a  large  scale  in  Missouri,  For  it  is,  however  uncomplimentary  to 
human  nature,  a  safe  assumption  to  make  that,  in  any  highly  competitive 
industries,  when  there  is  a  distinct  profit  to  be  made  or  a  considerable  economy 
to  be  realized  by  the  employment  (even  illegally)  of  cheap  labor,  and  no 
real  risk  to  the  employer  therein,  that  labor  will  be  widely  used.  It  is 
enough,  therefore,  to  point  out  the  kinds  and  amount  of  child  labor  to  which 
the  present  Missouri  laws  oppose  no  real  obstacle.  In  the  first  place,  much 
labor  of  children  under  fourteen  is  not  even  nominally  prohibited  by  the 
present  laws,  even  when  we  take  the  compulsory  school  law  into  account. 
This  last  requires  attendance  during  only  half  the  school  year,  which  means 
from  twenty  weeks  in  the  large  cities  to  twelve  weeks  in  some  towns  and 
rural  districts.  During  the  remaining  thirty-two  to  forty  weeks  of  the  year  any 
child  under  fourteen  is  legally  at  liberty  to  be  employed  in  any  industry  not 
specified  in  the  existing  child  labor  laws.  This  means  that  children  may 
legally  be  employed  in  any  factories  in  which  steam  or  mechanical  power  is 
not  used,  in  workshops,  stores,  warehouses,  laundries,  hotels,  etc.,  and  in  the 
singularly  demoralizing  messenger  and  delivery  services.  There  is,  more- 
over, no  legal  restraint  upon  the  employment  of  children  of  any  age  in  night 
work,  except  in  bakeries  and  in  factories  where  steam  or  mechanical  power 
is  used,  and  no  restriction  whatever  upon  night  work,  except  in  bakeries,  in 
the  case  of  children  between  fourteen  and  sixteen. 

It  is,  however,  trivial  to  talk  about  the  law's  mere  prohibitions;  it  is 
not  the  evils  that  the  law  prohibits,  but  the  evils  that  it  prevents,  that  make 
a  difference.  And  the  laws  prevent  the  social  crime  of  child  exploitation  only 
when  they  contain  adequate  jyovision  for  the  inspection  of  all  industries  and 
for  the  prosecution  of  all  who  engage  in  the  prohibited  acts.  It  is  here  that 
Missouri's  laws  are  particularly  weak.  In  the  first  place,  the  financial  pro- 
vision for  the  factory  inspection  department  is  entirely  inadequate  and  not 
in  proportion  to  the  size  and  industrial  productivity  of  the  state.  Conse- 
quently, not  enough  inspectors  can  be  employed  to  do  more,  for  the  most 
part,  than  make  routine  inspections  twice  a  year,  or  less  often,  along  regular 
and  carefully  mapped  routes.  Consequently  managers  and  foremen  often 
know  pretty  well  when  inspectors  may  be  looked  for,  and  can  be  ready  to 
hurry  suspiciously  young-looking  children  out  of  the  way  before  the  official 
eye  falls  upon  them.  In  the  second  place,  even  this  insufficient  appropriation 
for  inspection  is  required  to  be  collected  by  the  inspectors  themselves  in 
the  form  of  one  dollar  fees ;  this  has  the  effect  of  largely  converting  what 
is  supposed  to  be  an  inspection  bureau  into  a  collection  bureau ;  about  half  the 
time  of  the  chief  inspector  and  of  his  office  staff  is  taken  up  in  correspond- 
ence and  bookkeeping  necessitated  by  this  duty,  incongruously  laid  upon  him, 
of  providing  the  revenue  for  the  payment  of  the  salaries  and  expenses  of 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  149 

himself  and  his  assistants.  And  when  an  inspector  does,  in  spite  of  these 
hindrances,  succeed  in  discovering  young  children  actually  at  work  in  a 
prohibited  industry,  his  troubles  have  only  begun.  For,  first,  in  the  absence 
of  the  requirement  of  an  employment  certificate,  there  rests  upon  the  inspector 
the  burden  of  proving  by  legal  evidence  that  the  child  is  actually  under  age; 
and  this  he  often  or  usually  must  do  in  the  face  of  parental  prevarication  or 
perjury.  Second,  if  he  can  get  enough  such  evidence  to  warrant  carrying  the 
case  into  court,  he  is  likely  to  be  confronted  with  a  plea  for  exemption  under 
the  extreme  poverty  clause  of  the  law.  And  the  St.  Louis  courts,  at  least, 
have  shown  a  tendency  to  find  extreme  destitution  in  the  circumstances  of 
most  parents  who  care  to  represent  themselves  in  that  light.  Finally,  if  this 
difficulty  is  also  got  over,  the  inspector  may  find  himself  under  the  necessity 
of  proving  precisely  who  it  was  that  hired  the  child.  In  a  case  tried  in  St. 
Louis  on  December  10,  1906,  the  father,  a  prosperous  mechanic,  admitted  that 
he  did  not  need  the  wages  of  the  child — a  girl  of  twelve — for  the  support 
of  the  family;  the  poverty  plea  being  thus  barred,  attorney  for  the  defendant 
— the  superintendent  of  a  box  factory — made  the  point  that  "to  employ" 
means  "to  hire"  or  "engage  to  work,"  and  that  the  actual  hiring  of  the  child 
was  not  done  by  the  superintendent,  though  with  his  cognizance,  but  by 
one  of  the  foremen  in  the  establishment.  The  court  considered  this  point 
sufficiently  serious  to  justify  it  in  taking  the  case — which  in  all  other  respects 
was  absolutely  clear — under  advisement  for  five  days;  though  the  prosecuting 
attorney  pointed  out  that  if  this  plea  were  held  valid  it  would  render  the 
penal  clauses  of  the  child  labor  law  futile,  since  superintendents  wishing  to 
secure  child  laborers  would  then  need  only  to  employ  third  parties  tempo- 
rarily to  act  as  intermediaries  in  luring  the  children.  In  view  of  all  these 
difficulties,  it  is,  perhaps,  not  greatly  surprising  that  informations  for  viola- 
tions of  the  child  labor  laws  were  filed  by  the  factory  inspector  during  the 
past  twelve  months  in  only  twenty-two  cases.  Warrants  were  issued  in 
sixteen  of  these  cases.  Twelve  of  the  cases  resulted  in  convictions,  with 
fines  aggregating  $150 ;  in  two  other  cases  a  general  continuance  was  ordered, 
and  one  case  is  still  pending. 

But  the  worst  deficiency  of  the  Missouri  provisions  for  factory  inspection 
has  yet  to  be  mentioned;  namely,  the  fact  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  state 
factory  inspector  extends  only  to  cities  having  more  than  thirty  thousand 
inhabitants.  This  singular  feature  was  mcorporated  in  the  law  by  an  amend- 
ment passed  in  1903,  Missouri  has  a  large  number  of  small  manufacturing 
cities  and  towns;  in  none  of  these  is  there  any  practical  restriction  whatever 
upon  the  employment  of  children  of  any  age,  at  any  hour  of  day  or  night, 
in  any  industry.  The  enormous  loophole  thus  deliberately  put  into  the  law 
is  rapidly  growing  bigger  and  more  serious  because  of  the  increasing  ten- 
dency of  certain  classes  of  manufacturing  establishments  to  remove  from  the 
large  cities  to  smaller  places.  Firms  are  led  to  this  move  chiefly  by  the 
prospect  of  cheap  land  and  greater  freedom  from  trade  union  control ;  but 
they  are  usually  ready  incidentally  to  take  advantage  of)  their  exemption 
from  inspection  in  those  places  to  ignore  not  only  the  child  labor  but  many 


150  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

other  provisions  of  the  state  factory  laws.  Two  of  the  largest  shoe  manu- 
facturing corporations  of  St.  Louis  have  recently  opened  factories  in  several 
different  small  cities,  employing  in  most  cases  several  hundred  hands.  That 
one  of  these  cities  which  is  nearest  St.  Louis  I  have  personally  visited,  and 
have  testimony  from  neighbors  and  prominent  citizens  of  the  place,  that 
child  labor  is  employed  there  upon  a  considerable  scale.  There  is  no  reason 
at  all  to  doubt  that  liberal  advantage  is  generally  taken  of  the  free  license 
which  the  law  thus  practically  gives  industrial  greed  to  prey  upon  the  chil- 
dren of  all  communities  in  the  state  that  are  so  unlucky  as  to  have  less  than 
thirty  thousand  of  population. 

IL  Such  is  the  situation  with  respect  to  the  present  child  labor  laws 
and  their  enforcement.  But  it  is  the  hope  and  confident  expectation  of  many 
citizens  of  Missouri  that  after  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly,  which 
begins  next  month,  the  situation  will  be  completely  transformed,  and  that 
Missouri  will  be  able  to  boast  a  comprehensive,  coherent,  carefully  articulated 
and  thoroughly  enforceable  body  of  laws  for  the  protection  of  the  children 
of  the  state  from  exploitation.  For  the  purpose  of  helping  to  bring  about 
such  a  result  the  Children's  Protective  Alliance  of  Missouri  was  formed  in  the 
spring  of  1905,  as  the  result  of  a  meeting  called  in  St.  Louis  by  the  secretary 
of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee.  The  executive  committee  of  this  or- 
ganization, of  which  Mr.  N.  O.  Nelson,  of  St.  Louis,  is  chairman,  and  Mrs. 
Philip  N.  Moore,  president  of  the  State  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  is 
vice-chairman,  is  engaged  in  preparing  drafts  of  a  connected  series  of  bills 
that  are  to  be  presented  at  that  session,  and  in  arousing  public  interest  in  the 
matter  by  the  circulation  of  petitions  and  by  other  methods.  Vigorous  public 
support  is  being  given  the  agitation  by  the  women's  clubs,  by  the  clergy — 
who  are  represented  on  the  committee  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Day  and  Rabbi 
Samuel  Sale — and  by  the  trades  unions — who  have  representatives  on  the  com- 
mittee in  Mr.  David  Kreyling  and  Mr.  H.  Steinbiss.  Governor  Folk  has 
already  given  evidence  of  his  earnest  interest  in  child  labor  reform,  and  the 
committee's  work  has  received  the  expert  counsel  and  enthusiastic  support 
of  Mr.  J.  B.  Quinn,  chief  truant  officer  of  St.  Louis,  and  Mr.  J.  A.  C.  Hiller, 
chief  factory  inspector,  who  was  himself,  fifteen  years  ago,  as  a  member  of 
the  legislature,  the  author  of  one  of  the  state's  early  factory  inspection  laws. 
The  specific  changes  in  the  laws  for  which  the  Children's  Protective  Alliance 
stands  are: 

1.  The  extension  of  the  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  children  under 
fourteen  to  cover  workshops,  warehouses,  laundries,  stores,  hotels,  restau- 
rants, elevators,  offices,  theatres,  bowling  alleys,  places  where  intoxicating 
liquors  are  sold  and  the  messenger  and  express  services. 

2.  The  prohibition  of  night  work  for  children  under  sixteen. 

3.  The  requirement  of  an  employment  certificate  in  the  case  of  all  children 
between  fourteen  and  sixteen  employed  in  industrial  and  commercial  estab- 
lishments. 

4.  Prohibition  of  child  labor  in  dangerous  trades  specified  in  the  Illinois 
law. 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  151 

5.  A  newsboys'  law,  the  precise  provisions  of  which  are  still  under 
consideration, 

6.  The  abolition  of  the  fee  system  and  the  increase  of  the  appropriation 
for  the  factory  inspector's  office. 

7.  The  repeal  of  the  clause  limiting  inspection  to  cities  of  over  30^000 
population. 

8.  The  abolition  of  exemption  upon  the  plea  of  "extreme  poverty  of 
parent,"  the  committee  holding  that  it  is  poor  social  economy  to  sacrifice 
the  next  generation  upon  the  altar  of  the  misfortunes  or  inefficiency  of  the 
present  generation. 

9.  The  extension  of  the  compulsory  education  requirement  to  cover  the 
whole  (instead  of  one-half  only)  of  the  school  year.^ 

III.  A  few  words  should  be  added  about  the  results  up  to  date  of  the 
most  important  piece  of  constructive  legislation  enacted  by  the  legislature 
of  1905 — Missouri's  first  compulsory  education  law.  The  statute  made  the 
appointment  of  truant  officers  merely  optional  for  school  boards.  Where  such 
officers  have  been  appointed — notably  in  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City  and  St. 
Joseph — the  law,  even  with  its  imperfections,  has  done  immense  good.  In 
these  three  cities  between  five  and  six  thousand  children  are  estimated  to 
have  been  added  to  the  schools  in  consequence  of  the  enforcement  of  the 
law.  But  the  state  superintendent  of  schools,  Mr.  W.  T.  Carrington,  writes 
me  that  apparently  only  eighteen  school  boards  in  the  state  have  appointed 
truant  officers,  and  not  all  of  these  are  qualified  persons  specially  set  apart 
for  the  work.  In  one  case,  for  example,  the  chief  of  police  acts  as  attend- 
ance officer,  and  in  another  the  "head  janitor."  Many  cities  report  that  they 
have  not  sufficient  room  in  the  schools  for  the  children  that  would  be  brought 
in  if  the  compulsory  laws  were  thoroughly  enforced ;  these  cities  promise  to 
take  measures  for  a  better  enforcement  next  year,  when  the  necessary  school 
room  space  has  been  provided.  Outside  of  the  principal  cities,  in  short, 
the  law  is  ineffective,  and  even  there  it  will  be  remembered,  the  max- 
imum of  required  attendance  is  only  twenty  weeks,  and  the  work  of 
truant  officers  is  greatly  hampered  by  the  necessity  of  getting  legal  proof  of 
age,  and  by  the  liberality  of  the  clause  permitting  exemption  if  "the  child's 
labor  is  needed  for  the  support  of  the  parent."  The  policy  of  the  St.  Louis 
attendance  office  has  been  to  avoid  carrying  cases  into  court  and  to  grant 
exemptions  somewhat  freely.  No  prosecutions  have  been  brought  in  that 
city  under  the  penal  clauses  of  the  compulsory  attendance  law — though  there 
have  been  four  prosecutions  for  assault  upon  truant  officers — and  nearly  four 
hundred  exemptions  have  been  granted,  most  of  them,  however,  for  periods 
of  a  few  weeks  only.  In  the  case  of  parents  claiming  permanent  or  long- 
term  exemptions  in  order  that  their  children  might  work  in  stores  or  fac- 
tories, a  successful  effort  is  being  made  this  year  in  St.  Louis  to  eliminate 
all  such  child  labor  by  providing  scholarships  for  children  recommended  for 

*  Bills  covering  all  these  points,  except  the  fifth,  are  pending  in  the  Missouri  legislature 
as  this  goes  to  press ,  and  the  state  committee  confidently  expects  their  passage.  The  news- 
boys* bill  is  temporarily  held  back  for  reasons  of  expediency. 


152  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

exemption  by  the  truant  officer.  The  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  Children's  Protective  Alliance,  Mr.  N.  O.  Neslon,  has  proposed  to  the 
women's  clubs  of  the  city  to  share  equally  with  them  the  expense  of  such 
scholarships;  and  pending  action  by  the  women's  clubs,  Mr.  Nelson  is  per- 
sonally providing  for  all  these  cases,  after  they  have  been  reported  on  by  the 
truant  officer  and  carefully  investigated  by  the  agents  of  the  St.  Louis  Provi- 
dent Association.  The  cases,  of  course,  accumulate  gradually  through  the 
year  as  the  truant  officers  continue  their  work,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  say 
at  this  date  how  many  will  present  themselves  per  annum.  I  have  not 
Mr.  Nelson's  authority  to  say  what  the  expense  involved  has  thus  far  been. 
But  a  rough  preliminary  investigation  of  last  year's  long-term  exemption 
cases  indicated  that  the  number  of  children  properly  entitled  to  scholarships 
would  certainly  not  exceed  fifty,  and  would  probably  be  less  than  thirty. 
Sometimes  over  a  third  of  the  cases  approved  for  exemption  by  the  attendance 
office  are  rejected  after  the  Provident  Association's  investigation.  This 
provisional  effort  to  deal  with  the  problem  of  the  dependent  parent  is  of 
use,  not  only  in  itself,  but  as  an  indication  of  the  proper  future  policy  of 
the  state  with  respect  to  exemption  clauses  in  child  labor  and  compulsory 
attendance  laws.  That  policy  is :  Abolish  absolutely  all  such  exemptions — 
except  for  brief  periods  and  for  reasons  arising  out  of  temporary  family 
emergencies — and  leave  it  to  the  public  spirit  and  philanthropy  of  private 
citizens  to  provide  for  the  limited  number  of  cases  of  genuine  need  conse- 
quently arising.  Some  school  superintendents  and  others  in  Missouri  have 
already  begun  to  talk  of  the  desirability  of  creating  state  or  county  funds 
for  meeting  these  cases.  But  the  dangers  of  such  a  plan  are  so  considerable, 
and  the  opposition  which  it  would  be  sure  to  arouse  so  great,  that  we  cannot 
afford  to  let  the  repeal  of  the  present  exemption  clauses  wait  upon  the  inau- 
guration of  any  such  scheme  of  public  relief.  There  is,  I  think,  small 
doubt  that,  at  least  in  large  cities,  private  philanthropy  would  prove  easily 
equal  to  the  emergency. 

Arthur  O.  Lovejoy,  Secretary, 
St.  Louis  J  December  lo,  1906. 


REPORT  FROM  THE  CITIZENS'  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 
OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 

At  the  time  of  the  Washington  meeting  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee the  District  of  Columbia  had  practically  no  compulsory  education  law, 
had  practically  no  provisions  for  the  special  care  of  juvenile  criminals,  and  had 
no  child  labor  law.  At  the  present  time,  a  fairly  satisfactory  compulsory  edu- 
cation law  has  been  in  operation  for  three  months,  and  has  caused  an  appreci- 
able increase  in  the  number  of  pupils  in  attendance  at  the  public  schools;  in 
the  second  place,  a  juvenile  court  has  cared  for  all  offenders  under  the  age  of 
seventeen  since  July  ist,  and  by  means  of  an  efficient  probation  system  has 
brought  about  a  distinct  improvement  in  the  treatment  of  this  phase  of  the 
child  problem  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  153 

As  reported  at  the  national  meeting  of  a  year  ago,  a  bill  to  regulate  the 
employment  of  children  in  the  District  of  Columbia  was  introduced  into 
Congress  on  the  first  day  of  the  session.  A  hearing  on  this  bill  was  granted 
by  the  committee  of  the  House  to  which  it  was  referred,  on  March  i6th. 
In  the  original  form,  this  bill  was  regarded  as  containing  the  best  provisions 
for  the  regulation  of  children's  labor  in  use  at  the  present  time.  When  passed 
by  the  House,  on  April  9th,  many  essential  features  had  been  eliminated,  and 
other  amendments  had  so  weakened  the  bill  that  the  friends  of  the  measure 
decided  that  they  could  not  accept  it  in  that  form.  Urgent  representations 
were  made  to  the  committee  on  education  and  labor  of  the  Senate,  which 
finally  granted  a  public  hearing  on  the  subject  on  April  30th.  As  a  result 
of  that  hearing,  the  measure  was  reported  to  the  Senate  in  practically  its 
original  form  on  May  3d,  and  was  debated  on  June  6th  and  June  12th. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  session  was  nearing  its  close,  it  was  impossible 
to  bring  the  measure  to  a  vote,  and  the  bill  was  left  on  the  calendar  during 
the  summer  recess.  It  was  called  up  for  consideration  on  December  loth  and 
debated  at  some  length,  but  no  vote  was  taken.  At  the  present  time  it  is 
the  unfinished  business  on  the  Senate  calendar  and  may  be  called  up  at  any 
time.  The  writing  of  this  report  was  delayed,  in  the  hope  of  being  able 
to  report  definite  action  by  the  Senate,  but  at  present  a  delay  of  some  time 
seems  inevitable. 

During  the  year  1906  two  public  meetings  on  the  subject  of  child  labor 
in  this  city  have  been  held;  the  first  under  the  auspices  of  the  Unitarian 
Club,  and  presided  over  by  the  Hon.  William  E.  Chandler;  resolutions  indors- 
ing the  bill  were  passed  and  sent  to  Congress.  The  second  meeting  was  held 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Associated  Charities,  Mr.  Charles  F.  Weller 
presiding  in  the  absence  of  Mr,  Gifford  Pinchot. 

At  the  present  time  a  lively  public  interest  exists  in  the  local  problem 
of  children's  employment  and  has  manifested  itself  in  an  earnest  effort  to 
persuade  Congress,  the  legislative  body  for  the  District,  to  enact  local 
regulations  during  a  session  when  a  tiumber  of  national  measures  of  unusual 
complexity  were  severely  taxing  the  strength  and  patience  of  the  members 
of  both  houses.  The  local  child  labor  committee  feels  that  it  owes  a  special 
debt  of  gratitude  to  Hon.  Fred  T.  Dubois,  of  Idaho,  who,  among  the  many 
friends  of  the  bill,  has  been  conspicuous  in  urging  the  measure  and  assisting 
the  committee  in  the  difficult  task  of  securing  the  attention  of  a  national 
body  for  a  local  measure. 

While  this  report  is  made  by  the  local  committee,  it  must  be  clearly 
understood  that  it  would  have  been  practically  impossible  to  have  secured 
the  consideration  which  the  bill  has  received  without  the  aid  of  the  national 
committee.  The  fact  that  the  members  of  the  Congress  are  peculiarly  sensi- 
tive to  public  opinion  in  their  own  states,  has  made  the  services  of  the 
National  Child  Labor  Committee  invaluable  in  the  effort  to  secure  this  much 
needed  reform. 

Henry  J.  Harris,  Secretary. 
Washington^  D.  C,  December  12,  1906. 


154  'The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

REPORT  OF  THE  MARYLAND  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 

The  campaign  for  a  better  regulation  of  child  labor  in  Maryland  was 
inaugurated  last  winter  by  the  Consumers'  League  of  Maryland,  the  Charity 
Organization  Society  of  Baltimore,  the  Maryland  Association  for  the  Pre- 
vention and  Relief  of  Tuberculosis,  and  the  Social  Settlements  of  Baltimore. 

The  Maryland  Child  Labor  Committee  was  organized  November  24,  1905. 
It  is  composed  of  representatives  of  various  state  and  philanthropic  activities 
which  have  an  interest  in  the  subject  of  child  labor. 

Using  the  experience  which  had  been  gathered  in  two  investigations  by 
the  Consumers'  League  of  Maryland,  the  state  committee,  through  a  sub- 
committee, had  a  child  labor  bill  drafted,  making  it  as  advanced  as  it  seemed 
possible  to  have  passed  by  the  legislature.  The  bill  as  introduced  provided 
that  children  under  twelve  could  not  be  employed  in  any  of  the  gainful 
occupations,  except  farm  work ;  that  all  children  between  twelve  and  sixteen, 
at  work,  must  have  an  employment  permit  giving  the  name  of  the  child,  the 
name  of  the  father,  mother^  guardian  or  custodian,  place  of  birth  of  the  child 
and  the  date  of  birth  and  the  age  of  the  child;  and  that  such  employment 
permit  should  be  accompanied  by  a  birth  certificate,  if  such  were  in  existence, 
and  if  no  birth  certificate,  then  a  certificate  from  the  proper  authorities  of  the 
city  or  county  where  the  child  was  born  to  the  effect  that  no  birth  certificate 
existed.  The  issuance  of  such  a  permit  was  conditioned  upon  the  ability 
of  the  child  to  read  and  write  simple  English  sentences,  and,  further, 
that  he  or  she  had  reached  proper  physical  development  commensurate 
with  the  years  claimed.  The  proposed  bill  further  provided  that  on 
January  i,  1907,  the  minimum  age  at  which  a  child  might  work  in  Maryland 
should  be  thirteen  years,  and  that  on  and  after  January  i,  1908,  the  minimum 
age  should  be  fourteen  years.  A  further  provision  of  the  bill  authorized  the 
appointment  of  six  inspectors  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  bill,  at  a 
compensation  not  exceeding  $900  each  per  annum  and  their  actual  traveling 
expenses  when  away  from  the  city  of.  Baltimore  on  the  business  of  their 
office.  Besides  these  six  inspectors,  the  attendance  officers  of  the  public 
schools  are  charged  with  reporting  every  case  of  illegal  employment  or  other 
violations  of  the  act  to  the  justice  of  the  peace  having  criminal  jurisdiction 
in  the  locality  where  such  illegal  employment  or  other  violations  occur.  Both 
the  attendance  officers  and  the  inspectors  may  require  that  the  employment 
permits  and  lists  of  employees  shall  be  produced  for  their  inspection  in  any 
office,  establishment  or  business. 

This  bill  was  introduced  in  the  house  of  delegates  January  9,  1906,  by 
Mr.  Frederick  T.  Dorton,  a  member  of  the  committee  and  honorary  counsel 
for  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  and  was  referred  to  the  judiciary  com- 
mittee. 

At  the  first  hearing  of  the  bill  before  that  committee  the  State  Child 
Labor  Committee  was  opposed  by  the  cotton  duck  manufacturers,  through 
the  Merchants'  and  Manufacturers'  Association,  and  the  glass  manufacturers. 
The  former  finally  agreed  to  support  the  measure,  provided  the  sliding  scale 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  155 

raising  the  minimum  age  ultimately  to  fourteen  years  was  eliminated,  and 
that  they  might  have  the  assurance  that  all  widowed  mothers  and  other  cases 
of  distress  occasioned  by  the  operation  of  the  law  would  be  adequately 
relieved.  The  latter  assurance  was  promptly  given,  and  the  judiciary  com- 
mittee finally  secured  the  amendment  of  the  bill  so  that  the  sliding  scale  was 
eliminated. 

Then  some  further  opposition  was  aroused  among  country  delegates  who 
purported  to  stand  for  the  fruit  and  vegetable  interests  in  the  state.  They 
maintained  that  children  employed  in  the  canneries  in  the  summer  were 
better  off  than  if  wholly  unemployed,  and,  in  the  absence  of  definite  knowl- 
edge on  the  subject,  the  committee  accepted  the  amendment,  exempting  the 
counties  (Baltimore  City  is  not  in  any  county)  from  the  operation  of  the 
first  clause  of  the  act  from  the  ist  of  June  to  the  15th  of  October  in  every 
year.  During  that  period  children  under  twelve  may  be  employed  in  any  of 
the  gainful  occupations  in  any  county  of  the  state.  Children  between  twelve 
and  sixteen,  however,  must  have  employment  permits  at  any  place  in  the 
state  and  at  any  time  in  the  year,  and  all  industries  in  the  state  are  subject 
to  inspection*  at  any  time  during  the  year. 

The  bill  as  originally  introduced  provided  that  the  governor  be  author- 
ized to  appoint  the  six  inspectors  mentioned.  At  Governor  Warfield's  sug- 
gestion this  was  amended  so  that  the  chief  of  the  bureau  of  statistics  and 
information  was  authorized  to  appoint.  This  bureau  is  made  responsible  for 
the  enforcement  of  the  law. 

With  these  three  amendments  the  bill  passed  both  houses  and  was  signed 
by  the  governor.  The  committee  then  endeavored  to  arouse  public  interest 
in  the  appointment  of  the  inspectors.  While  it  did  not  succeed  in  securing 
the  appointment  of  these  inspectors  on  a  basis  of  merit  only,  the  committee 
feels  that  six  good  appointments  were  made.  Two  of  the  appointments  were 
from  a  list  of  six  people  whom  the  committee  considered  best  fitted  for  that 
work  of  any  available  people  in  the  state. 

The  officers  of  the  bureau  and  the  inspectors  have  evidenced  a  splendid 
spirit  in  organizing  their  forces  and  getting  their  machinery  into  operation. 
Already  12,000  applicants  have  been  examined,  and  about  ten  per  cent  of 
these  have  been  refused  permits  because  of  their  inability  to  read  or  write, 
or  on  account  of  their  physical  deficiencies. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  to  meet  all  cases  of  bona  Me  distress 
occasioned  by  the  operation  of  the  law  in  cutting  off  the  earnings  of  the  child. 
In  Baltimore  City  the  Federated  Charities  have  undertaken  to  raise  school 
pensions  for  all  such  cases,  and  to  date  have  found  it  necessary  to  supply 
about  14  such  pensions,  and  to  give  temporary  material  relief  in  17  others. 
For  all  the  cases  in  the  counties  the  clubs  included  in  the  State  Federation 
of  Women's  Clubs  will  undertake  to  provide  pensions.  Up  to  this  time  but 
one  such  pension  has  been  required  outside  of  Baltimore  City. 

The  committee  has  Employed  a  special  agent  to  investigate  all  pension 
cases.  The  special  agent  will  also  make  an  investigation  of  conditions  among 
newsboys  and  children  engaged  in  other  street  trades  in  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
She  will  also  organize  auxiliary  committees  in  the  counties. 


156  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

During  the  past  summer  the  committee  employed  two  investigators  who 
made  a  study  of  conditions  in  the  canning  factories  in  the  counties,  but  at 
this  time  the  committee  has  received  only  a  preliminary  report  of  the  results 
of  that  investigation.  The  special  agent  will  also  make  a  study  of  conditions 
in  the  homes  of  some  of  the  Baltimore  children  discovered  in  the  course  of 
the  cannery  investigation.  As  yet  the  committee  has  taken  no  action  relative 
to  further  legislation  at  the  next  session  of  the  legislature  in  1908. 

H.  Wirt  Steele,  Secretary. 
Baltimore^  Md.,  December  11,  1906. 


REPORT  OF  THE  WISCONSIN  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 

In  the  absence  of  a  legislative  session  for  1906,  the  Wisconsin  Child 
Labor  Committee  has  had  a  needed  year  of  investigation  and  of  study  of  the 
problems  of  child  labor  and  the  closely  allied  problems  of  compulsory  educa- 
tion, truancy  and  the  wider  extension  of  the  juvenile  court.  We  felt  that  to 
properly  educate  public  opinion  we  must  first  educate  ourselves  and  that  we 
needed  more  definite  information  as  to  conditions  in  the  smaller  cities  of  the 
state  and  as  to  the  method  in  which  child  labor  and  compulsory  education 
laws  were  being  enforced.  The  committee  therefore  sent  out  blanks  to  all 
the  cities  and  large  towns  of  the  state  asking  for  information,  the  questions 
being  as  follows: 

1.  Is  the  law  requiring  the  attendance  at  some  school  of  all  children 
under  fourteen  years  strictly  enforced  in  your  city  and  county? 

2.  If  it  is  not  enforced,  what  is  the  reason? 

Have   the  citizens   or  any  of  them  called   upon   the   proper   official   to 
enforce  it? 

3.  What  proportion  of  children  under  fourteen  years  have  been  out  of 
school  during  the  past  year? 

What  proportion  under  sixteen  years,  and  not  employed  regularly  for 
wages  ? 

4.  Are  any  children  under  fourteen  years  employed  in  factories  or  other 
places  during  the  school  year? 

5.  About  what  number? 

6.  How  often  have  the  state  factory  inspectors  visited  your  city  during 
1905? 

7.  There  are  eleven  inspectors  for  the  whole  state;  if  the  number  were 
increased  and  more  frequent  visits  made,  would  their  work  be  more  eflPective? 

8.  How  many  children  under  sixteen  years  have  been  arrested  for  mis- 
demeanors or  crimes  during  1905? 

9.  How  many  sent  to  the  industrial  (reform)  schools? 

10.  How  many  dependent  children  were  sent  to  state,  county  or  private 
institutions  during  1905? 

11.  What  is  the  general  moral  state  of  the  less  fortunate  children  of  youf 
community  ? 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  157 

The  answers  were  instructive,  in  many  ways  encouraging  and  in  more 
ways  showing  the  great  need  of  intelligent  discussion  of  the  laws  relating  to 
children  and  of  their  fearless  enforcement. 

In  Milwaukee,  the  only  large  city  in  Wisconsin,  we  can  report  a  still 
more  thorough  and  satisfactory  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  law.  This  is 
partly  due  to  a  better  knowledge  of  its  provisions,  to  an  increasing  firmness 
on  the  part  of  the  courts  in  applying  its  penalties  for  unlawful  employment 
of  children,  and  especially  to  a  very  close  and  able  factory  and  store  inspec- 
tion. If  the  number  of  factory  inspectors  could  be  largely  increased,  and  their 
visits  to  other  cities  and  towns  be  more  frequent,  the  reports  from  the  rest  of 
the  state  would  be  more  encouraging.  As  it  is,  there  is.  some  discouragement 
in  the  reports  from  the  smaller  cities  and  towns  partly  because  of  the  igno- 
rance of  the  law  and  partly  because  of  a  lack  of  factory  inspectors,  and  of  the 
unwillingness  on  the  part  of  other  officials  to  enforce  the  law  against  their 
friends  and  associates. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  the  exact  details  as  to  the  number  of  permits 
issued,  for  the  reason  that  the  county  and  municipal  judges,  by  whom  the 
permits  are  largely  given  in  other  cities  and  counties  than  Milwaukee,  do  not 
make  complete  returns,  and  an  amendment  to  the  law,  requiring  such  complete 
returns,  is  to  be  presented  to  the  legislature.  As  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained 
there  were  about  eight  thousand  permits  given  children  to  work  during  the 
year  1906,  including  in  this  number  some  four  hundred  vacation  permits,  under 
our  law  which  permits  children  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years  to  work  during 
the  vacation  of  the  public  schools  at  certain  specified  employments.  Although 
this  provision  is  not  satisfactory  to  many  friends  of  the  work,  it  seems  best 
to  continue  it  in  the  absence  of  satisfactory  vacation  school  privileges  and  of 
enough  small  parks  and  playgrounds.  There  were  during  the  year  eighty- 
nine  arrests  for  the  unlawful  employment  of  child  labor  and  eighty-one  con- 
victions, and  many  children  were  removed  from  factories  and  stores. 

One  of  the  most  helpful  signs  in  the  child  labor  outlook  in  Wisconsin  is 
an  increasing  recognition  by  broad-minded  employers  of  children  that  child 
labor  in  factories  is  of  uncertain  and  questionable  value  from  an  economic 
standpoint.  Some  of  the  large  factories  of  Wisconsin  have,  during  the  year, 
announced  that  they  will  not  employ  such  labor  in  the  future.  The  violation 
of  the  child  labor  law,  both  in  letter  and  in  spirit,  seems  to  us  increasingly  to 
come  rather  from  the  side  of  the  parent  and  the  child  than  from  the  side  of 
the  employer,  and  we  are  glad  to  state  that,  as  a  whole,  employers  are  each 
year  more  willing  to  comply  with  the  law. 

The  committee  expects  to  ask  the  legislature  of  1907  for  important  amend- 
ments to  the  child  labor  law,  which  was  properly  left  unamended  for  four 
years,  that  its  working  might  be  thoroughly  studied.  Among  the  most  needed 
amendments  which  will  be  asked  for  are  a  simple  education  test  for  children 
under  sixteen,  an  extension  of  the  list  of  dangerous  employments,  the  limiting 
of  work  for  children  under  sixteen  to  nine  hours  a  day  and  fifty-four  hours 
a  week  instead  of  ten  hours  a  day  and  sixty  hours  a  week,  as  at  present,  and 
providing  a  system  of  uniform  applications  for  permits  and  permits  to  work. 


158  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  problem  of  girls  between  fourteen  and  sixteen,  who  are  employed 
in  stores  and  factories,  is  one  which  gives  more  and  more  anxiety  to  Wis- 
consin students  of  social  problems.  We  hope  that  the  hours  of  work  for  girls 
up  to  twenty-one  may  be  shortened  at  the  next  session  of  the  legislature,  so 
that  at  the  least  some  undesirable  employments  will  be  closed  to  them  and 
that  compelling  their  dismissal  from  work  at  an  early  hour  may  avoid  some 
of  the  evils  resulting,  in  part  at  least,  from  young  girls  leaving  work  at  the 
same  hour  as  the  men  do. 

The  Wisconsin  committee  is  convinced  that  child  labor  laws  standing  by 
themselves,  even  if  thorough  and  modern  in  form,  are  too  often  a  mockery 
of  legislation  unless   they   are  accompanied  by   satisfactory   and   thoroughly 
enforced  education  and  truancy  laws  and  by  ungraded  rooms   and  schools, 
playgrounds  and  park  facilities,  and  in  general,  unless  when  employment  is 
denied  to  children,  school  and  vacation  facilities  are  given  and  school  attend- 
ance compelled.     Our  committee  therefore  seeks  not  only  a  child  labor  law 
which  shall  be  practical  and  modern  in  the  best  sense,  but  also  to  keep  fully 
abreast  (and  if  possible  in  advance  of  that  standard)  the  educational  system 
of  the  state,  including  compulsory  education  laws  and   satisfactory  truancy 
laws.    And  we  believe  that  the  juvenile  court  should  be  extended  throughout 
the  state.    Undesirable  as  certain  forms  of  child  labor  are,  and  much  as  we 
may  look  forward  to  a  time  when  no  child  under  sixteen  shall  be  employed  at 
gainful  occupations  the  fact  remains  that  under  existing  conditions  a  great 
number  of  such  children  must  work  for  wages,  and  that  it  is  far  worse  t* 
have  children  in  idleness  on  the  streets,  studying  in  the  school  of  crime, 
because  of  lack  of  proper  educational  laws  and  of  vacation  schools  and  play- 
grounds and  other  proper  and  normal  ways  to  use  the  abounding  strength 
of  childhood. 

Edward  W.  Frost,  Chairman. 


REPORT  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 

During  the  past  year  the  Pennsylvania  Child  Labor  Committee  has  been 
engaged  actively  in  a  campaign  for  the  enforcement  of  the  child  labor 
law. 

Eighty-three  cases  were  reported  to  the  chief  factory  inspector  and  twenty 
to  deputies  of  the  factory  department,  in  which  the  committee  alleged  viola- 
tions of  the  law;  as  a  result  of  this  information  $11,500  in  fines  was  imposed. 
Nine  prosecutions  were  brought  and  seven  were  successful.  One  hundred  and 
sixty  children  were  discovered  by  the  committee  to  be  illegally  employed,  and 
sixty-nine  of  them  were  dismissed. 

In  addition  to  this  work  the  committee  distributed  forty  thousand  circu- 
lars, pamphlets,  copies  of  the  law,  etc. 

During  the  summer  the  two  most  important  sections  of  the  Pennsylvania 
child  labor  law,  those  relating  to  the  employment  certificate  were  declared 
unconstitutional,  and  it  is  now  incumbent  upon  the  committee  to  secure  a  new 
law  covering  the  defects  which  the  court  found  in  the  old  one. 

Scott  Nearing,  Secretary,.  - 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  159 

REPORT  OF  THE  IOWA  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 

The  Iowa  committee  has  very  little  to  report.  Our  report  is  a  tentative 
one,  merely  that  of  progress.  I  think  we  are  not  disposed  to  enter  into  any 
rivalry  respecting  this  claim  of  early  origin,  for  every  one  knows  that  we  lie 
west  of  the  Mississippi.  Our  popuation  is  essentially  homogeneous.  It  con- 
sists of  two  streams  that  met  together,  one  typified  by  Massachusetts 
and  New  York,  the  other  by  Virginia  and  Tennessee.  Both  came  to  us 
before  the  slavery  agitation  and  for  the  same  purpose,  that  of  finding 
homes  on  the  prairies ;  and  therefore  they  have  welded,  and  there  are  no 
traces  of  disagreement  between  these  two  currents  of .  population.  I  think 
one  result  of  our  quiet  and  peace  is  a  degree  of  self-complacency  which  is 
perhaps  harder  to  meet  when  you  want  something  done  than  open  opposi- 
tion. 

It  may  be  well  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  have  also  entered 
the  list  of  biennial  states;  we  have  had  biennial  sessions  of  owr  legislature 
for  a  long  while,  and  we  now  have  annual  elections;  for  making  the  transi- 
tion we  had  an  assembly  last  year,  and  we  will  have  one  again  this  coming 
winter;  from  now  on  the  elections  will  be  biennial  as  well  as  the  assembly. 

Our  report  is  brief.  I  want  to  call  attention  first  to  the  law,  and,  sec- 
ondly, to  its  history,  which  indeed  is  very  brief.  I  think  I  should  acknowl- 
edge before  passing  to  a  very  brief  account  of  our  brief  statute,  that  the 
fact  that  we  have  a  statute  at  all  is  due  in  no  small  measure  to  the  National 
Committee,  to  your  secretaries.  Dr.  Lindsay  and  Mr.  Lovejoy.  We  owe 
much  also  to  our  Governor  and  other  public  men,  and  to  certain  moral  agen- 
cies, such  as  the  Women's  State  Federation  and  the  labor  unions,  which 
fell  in  line.  Indeed,  the  Women's  Federation  was  working  for  a  law  through 
several  years  preceding  the  last  assembly  which  gave  us  our  law.  The 
law  that  we  secured,  and  a  printed  copy  of  which  I  hold  in  my  hand,  as  you 
can  see  is  quite  short.  We  have  followed  the  best  examples  of  the  Northern 
States  and  adopted  their  standards  in  several  fundamental  particulars.  In 
the  first  place,  we  have  a  general  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  children 
under  fourteen  years  in  our  factories  and  work-shops;  and,  secondly,  a  spe- 
cial prohibition  of  the  employment  of  all  children  under  sixteen — that  is, 
of  all  young  people  under  sixteen  in  certain  dangerous  occupations  that 
are  specified.  Then  we  have  two  special  provisions  for  the  young  people 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen.  We  have  a  ten-hour  day  limit 
for  these  young  people  where  they  may  be  employed,  with  a  provision  for  a 
nooning,  which  must  fall  between  eleven  o'clock  and  one  o'clock;  and  then 
we  have  the  further  provision  which  calls  for  a  posted  list  in  each  place  of 
the  young  people  employed  from  fourteen  to  sixteen.  To  section  one  of  the 
statute  there  is  an  interesting  exception  which,  of  course,  you  will  recognize 
at  once  as  bearing  the  earmarks  of  the  state's  industries:  "The  provisions 
of  this  section  shall  not  apply  to  persons  employed  in  husking  sheds  or  other 
places" — you  know  we  are  one  of  the  corn  states — "connected  with  canning 
factories  where  vegetables  or  grain  are  prepared  for  canning,  and  in  which 


i6o  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

no  machinery  is  operated."     Of  course  many  of  you  know  that  this  is  an 
exception  that  has  been  stood  out  for  even  in  England. 

We  have  a  long  section  enumerating  the  people  who  are  liable  to  penalty 
for  violation  of  the  law,  but  the  fine  or  penalty  is  not  excessive.  The  fine 
is  assessable  against  any  one  of  a  very  large  number  of  parties,  but  shall 
in  no  case  exceed  one  hundred  dollars  or  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail 
not  to  exceed  thirty  days. 

The  chief  weakness  of  the  statute  lies  in  the  fact  that  our  committee 
failed  to  secure,  and  you  who  are  engaged  in  dealing  with  this  subject, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  propaganda,  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  secure, 
:idequate  provision  f6r  proving  the  age. 

Finally,  a  word  on  the  history  of  the  law  and  the  manner  of  its  enforce- 
ment. The  statute  is  less  than  a  year  old,  and  places  its  enforcement  in 
the  hands  of  the  State  Commissioner  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor.  The  princi- 
ple of  centralizing  the  administration  in  the  Bureau  of  Labor  as  adopted  will 
work  well  if  there  is  a  good  commissioner  all  the  time.  There  is  at  present 
a  strong  and  discreet  man  in  that  office.  It  "shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  and  such  commissioner  and  his  deputies,  factory  inspectors," — (we  have 
two) — "assistants,  and  any  other  persons  authorized  by  him  in  writing" — now 
there  is  an  important  point.  The  commissioner  may  multiply  himself  to  any 
extent  that  he  can  find  in  the  community  persons  whom  he  wants  to  deputize. 
That,  you  see,  is  important. 

We  have  the  beginnings  of  a  compulsory  education  law  in  our  state. 
Our  laws  now  call  for  four  months  of  schooling  each  year  for  all  chil- 
dren between  the  ages  of  five  and  fourteen.  We  have  also  some,  though 
not  adequate,  provision  for  truancy  officers. 

Our  child  labor  law  was  passed  last  spring.  The  Commissioner  of 
Labor  reported  a  few  days  ago  that  in  four  hundred  establishments  visited 
sixty-three  children  were  found  employed  contrary  to  the  law  and  dis- 
missed. In  sixty-five  establishments  the  posted  lists  were  not  correct,  and 
were  corrected. 

Our  committee  will  probably  not  ask  for  any  amendments  of  the  law 
at  once.  We  have  thought  it  best  to  let  the  matter  lie  over  so  far  as 
the  pending  assembly  is  concerned  altogether  for  another  two  years,  and 
by  that  time  we  shall  be  able  to  see  how  our  law  works. 

I,  A.  Loos,  President. 


REPORT  FROM  GEORGIA  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 

I  feel  that  an  explanation  is  due  for  my  undertaking  to  make  not  only  a 
verbal,  but  what  is  almost  an  impromptu  report.  I  did  not  know'  until  I  came 
into  the  hall  that  I  would  be  asked  to  make  this  report  from  Georgia's 
Child  Labor  Committtee.  The  fact  is  that  I  belong  to  that  class  that  does 
not  come  under  the  operation  of  any  state  hours  of  labor  law,  and  for  whom 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  i6i 

nobody  has  proposed  any  such  relief — probably  because  it  is  not  considered 
that  we  need  it — and,  therefore,  being  exceedingly  busy,  I  have  unloaded  on 
my  friend.  Dr.  McKelway,  since  he  has  been  in  Atlanta,  and  I  thought 
that  I  would  simply  give  a  brief  history  of  the  movement  in  Georgia  up  to 
the  present  time,  and  let  him  put  the  capstone  on. 

I  do  not  remember  just  when  the  Georgia  Child  Labor  Committee  was 
organized,  it  has  been  so  long  ago,  but  I  am  inclined  to  ask  for  a  hold-up 
on  the  decision  as  to  the  claim  made  by  New  York  as  being  the  first.  The 
truth  is  that  New  York  City  does  not  learn  of  the  good  things  that  happen 
in  Georgia  as  quickly  as  she  does  of  the  bad.  I  do  not  remember  exactly 
the  date,  but  I  myself  went  to  Atlanta  in  1900,  and  it  may  have  been  that 
in  the  year  1901  Atlanta  was  visited  by  Miss  McFadden,  who  was  there  as 
the  paid  representative  of  Mr.  Gompers,  to  organize  labor.  I  mention  that 
because  the  fact  made  it  more  difficult  for  us  to  win  as  we  have  won,  because 
it  put  us  up  against  the  claim  made  by  the  other  side  that  this  movement  was 
»11  in  the  interest  of  the  laboring  classes,  and  there  was  a  considerable  degree 
of  plausibility  in  the  contention  made  for  a  while  that  only  a  few  senti- 
mental preachers  and  a  few  women  and  labor  agitators  and  paid  emissaries 
of  the  northern  mills  were  in  favor  of  this  movement.  At  the  first  meeting 
that  I  attended  in  Atlanta  there  were  present  a  few  women  and  some  labor- 
ing men.  Notwithstanding  that,  however,  we  have  gone  through  these 
stages ;  the  committee  which  considered  this  matter  appeared  before  the 
committee  of  the  legislature  in  the  year  1901  before  I  went  into  the  fight, 
which  had  stacks  of  testimony  before  them  from  physicians,  the  burden  of 
which  was  that  of  all  the  health  resorts  for  children  ever  devised  by  a  kind 
Providence  or  intelligent  men  a  cotton  mill  was  the  best. 

When  they  had  to  give  that  up  the  cotton  mill  men  got  together  and 
called  themselves  the  Industrial  Association  (because,  I  suppose,  their  busi- 
ness is  to  keep'  other  people  industrious),  and  they  formed  the  voluntary 
agreement  that  no  children  should  be  worked  under  a  certain  age,  or  for 
more  than  a  certain  number  of  hours.  They  practically  acknowledged  under 
.the  educational  influences  that  were  pouring  in  to  them  that  child  labor  was 
a  regrettable  evil;  but  their  next  point  was  that  "it  is  unnecessary  to  single 
us  out  by  class  legislation,  it  is  unnecessary  to  put  this  law  on  the  statute  book, 
because  we  are  voluntarily  enforcing  that  ourselves,  and  if  you  walk  into 
any  of  our  mills  you  will  see  rules  and  regulations  hung  up  on  the  walls." 
Well,  the  next  thing  we  had  to  do  was  to  show  that  those  resolutions  were 
not  lived  up  to  by  any  except  a  few.  Those  few  were  humane  men  who 
did  everything  that  they  could  for  the  children.  It  has  taken  some  time  to 
convince  the  people  of  Georgia  that,  just  as  under  the  regime  of  slavery,  the 
kind  slave-owner  was  the  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  emancipation,  so 
the  kind  mill  man  is  the  greatest  enemy  of  the  children,  because  by  reason 
of  that  kindness  necessary  legislation  is  prevented,  and  under  the  benevolent 
flag  of  those  men,  greedy  and  avaricious  mill  men  are  allowed  to  exploit 
children  to  their  hearts'  content. 

We  finally  got  so  many  people  in  favor  of  this  that  it  soon  became  a  gen- 


i62  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

eral  movement,  and  we  then  simply  had  to  show  that  those  laws  were  not 
lived  up  to.  I  will  refer  to  a  little  interesting  bit  of  correspondence  between 
our  committee,  carried  on  through  its  secretary.  They  denied  our  allega- 
tion. Well  my  friend  Dr.  McKelway  is  too  good  a  Presbyterian  to  take 
photographs  on  Sunday,  but,  like  some  other  good  people  I  know,  he  was 
not  too  good  to  get  somebody  else  to  do  it ;  and  so  he  had  pictures  and 
names  and  ages  of  children  working  in  the  mill  of  the  very  man,  the  chair- 
man of  the  committee,  who  was  conducting  this  pious  correspondence  with 
me  and  denying  the  accusation.  Before  those  pictures  and  names  were  pub- 
lished they  were  put  in  the  hands  of  a  reporter,  who  went  and  interviewed 
that  gentleman,  who  flatly  denied  the  accusation.  Said  the  reporter :  "Well, 
what  do  you  think  of  that  child  working  in  your  mill?"  at  the  same  time 
displaying  the  picture.  His  reply  was :  "Well  it  isn't  right  to  take  pictures 
on  Sunday  afternoon."  The  legislature  last  summer  a  year  ago  passed  a 
bill  in  the  lower  house,  defeating  it  by  a  few  votes  in  the  upper  house. 

I  want  to  say  two  things  in  regard  to  the  debate,  however.  That  debate 
illustrated  that  when  you  put  your  hand  on  a  child  for  good  or  for  evil 
you  are  putting  your  hand  on  the  center  of  something  that  will  radiate  in 
all  directions  and  is  connected  on  the  one  side  with  all  good,  and  on  the  other 
side  with  all  bad.  That  debate,  in  the  lower  house  particularly,  marked 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Georgia.  It  was  not  merely  that  some  men  stood 
for  the  child,  but  they  stood  for  principles  of  the  highest  civilization.  It 
was  the  dawn  of  the  new  day.  In  the  Senate  we  had  one  man,  fortunately, 
who  was  a  mill  owner  himself.  He  was  asked  the  question :  "Do  you 
belong  to  the  Georgia  Industrial  Association?"  He  replied  immediately,  "I 
do  not."  He  was  again  asked:  'Why  don't  you?"  "Oh,  that  mine  enemy," 
he  said,  "would  ask  me  that  question!  Because,  sir,  I  will  not  take  money 
out  of  my  pocket  to  hire  a  lawyer  to  come  to  the  Georgia  legislature  to  defeat 
righteous  legislation."  We  were  a  little  despairing  as  to  whether  we  could 
get  a  bill  passed  at  this  last  session,  because  it  was  the  same  legislature,  and 
yet  not  the  same.  The  personnel  was  the  same.  I  cannot  better  describe  the 
condition  of  that  legislature  than  by  borrowing  one  of  Sam  Small's  stories 
with  a  little  different  application,  however.  He  said  that  once  there  was  a 
man  crossing  the  street,  and  meeting  another  he  said:  "Which  is  the  uzzer 
side  prf  the  street?"  "Why,  over  there.'"  "Why,  that's  funny,  I  was  over 
there  and  asked  them  which  was  the  uzzer  side  of  the  street  and  they  told 
me  to  come  over  here."  The  legislature  did  just  that  way  with  us,  try- 
ing to  find  out  which  was  the  other  side  of  the  street.  They  found  out.  They 
heard  from  the  people.  On  the  other  hand,  our  bald-headed  men  and  long- 
haired women  and  labor  agitators  had  spread  their  doctrines  abroad  till 
the  people  of  Georgia  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea  with  one  voice  cried, 
"Take  your  hands  off  the  babies." 

Now  the  present  situation  is  this :  Our  governor-elect  is  one  of  the  mem- 
bers from  Georgia  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  the  third  one 
being  his  principal  antagonist  for  the  gubernatorial  position ;  and  the  only 
two  things  on  which  they  agreed  were:  First,  that  they  both  wanted  to  be 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  163 

governor ;  second,  that  they  are  both  in  favor  of  the  children.  So  Governor- 
elect  Hoke  Smith  is  for  the  children,  and  has  been  honestly  and  openly  and 
strongly  for  them. 

C.  B.  WiLMER,  Secretary. 
Atlanta  J  Ga. 


REPORT  FROM  THE  ALABAMA  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 

Our  work  has  been  mainly  along  the  line  of  educating  public  opinion. 
We  were  fortunate  last  summer  in  the  state  campaign  to  get  both  candi- 
dates for  governor  committed  to  child  labor  reform,  and  the  platform  of  the 
Democratic  state  convention  contained  a  clause  in  favor  of  child  labor  legis- 
lation. 

The  annual  conference  of  the  Methodist  Church  and  the  annual  con- 
vention of  Women's  Federated  Clubs  have  both  made  strong  appeals  to  the 
state  legislature  for  more  efficient  child  labor  laws.  Two  weeks  ago  Rev. 
J.  W.  Stagg,  of  Birmingham,  and  Fred  S.  Ball,  of  this  city,  were  appointed 
delegates  to  the  National  Child  Labor  Meeting  to  be  held  in  Cincinnati. 

Last  week,  at  a  meeting  of  our  state  committee,  a  sub-committee  was 
appointed  to  draw  up  a  bill  to  be  presented  to  the  legislature,  which  meets 
about  the  middle  of  January.  The  main  features  of  this  bill  are,  adequate 
inspection,  publicity,  raising  the  age  limit  for  girls  to  fourteen  years,  and 
raising  the  age  limit  for  night  work  to  sixteen  years  for  boys  and  girls.  I 
hope  and  think  we  will  be  able  to  pass  a  satisfactory  bill  in  January. 

Benjamin  J.  Baldwin,  Chairman. 


REPORT  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE 

The  child  labor  movement  in  North  Carolina  has  made  some  progress 
during  the  past  year. 

We  have  a  committee  charged  with  securing  additional  legislation  from 
the  state  legislature  of  1907.  This  committee  is  composed  of  such  citizens 
as  Ex-Governor  C.  B.  Aycock,  Bishop  Joseph  Blount  Cheshire,  Ex-Governor 
T.  J.  Jarvis,  and  others.  The  editors  of  many  newspapers  are  actively  inter- 
ested. Such  papers  as  the  Biblical  Recorder,  the  Raleigh  Christian  Advo- 
cate, the  Progressive  Farmer,  and  the  News  and  Observer  are  ardent  friends 
of  better  legislation. 

Our  committee  has  been  trying  to  interest  the  cotton  mill  owners  in  our 
proposed  legislation.     Some  of  these  men  are  favorable  to  our  plans. 

Our  committee  propose  to  try  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  law  raising  the 
age  limit  from  twelve  by  an  act  to  prohibit  night  work  by  all  children  under 
fourteen;  also  to  prevent  girls  under  fourteen  from  being  employed  in  any 


164  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

manufacturing  plant,    as    well    as    to    prohibit    all    illiterate    children    under 
sixteen  from  employment. 

The  essential  defect  of  our  present  legislation  is  that  there  is  no  inspec- 
tion. The  law  is  violated  a  great  deal,  as  there  is  no  machinery  to  detect 
violations.    This  we  propose  to  try  to  remedy. 

Our  legislature  meets  every  two  years.  Our  last  legislation  was  enacted 
in  1903.  The  only  difficulty  we  will  have  is  the  scarcity  of  labor  cry,  when 
we  get  to  the  legislature  with  our  measure. 

We  hope  by  December,  1907,  to  have  some  definite  progress  to  report. 

Charles  L.  Cone^  Secretary. 


REPORT  FROM  THE  SOUTHERN  STATE  CHILD  LABOR 
COMMITTEES 

I  do  not  think  it  is  necessary  to  add  anything  to  the  report  from 
Georgia,  except  that  the  legislature  did  pass,  in  1906,  a  child  labor  bill  by  a 
vote  of  125  to  2  in  the  house,  and  unanimously  in  the  senate.  It  was  the 
senate  that  had  defeated  the  bill  the  year  before.  The  same  legislature 
passed  a  very  much  better  bill,  therefore,  after  having  heard  from  the  people. 

I  should  like  to  acknowledge  also  in  this  connection  the  eminent  service 
that  the  press  of  the  state  did  for  us.  There  were  only  one  or  two  papers 
that  were  even  lukewarm  on  the  subject;  and  the  senate,  after  defeating 
the  first  bill,  was  cartooned  and  lampooned  until  the  members  came  up  ready 
to  do  almost  anything  for  the  children. 

The  Alabama  state  committee,  I  think,  is  the  oldest  of  our  southern 
committees,  and  if  New  York  is  the  oldest  of  the  northern,  why  Alabama 
can  perhaps  claim  to  be  the  oldest  child  labor  committee  in  the  country. 
They,  have  been  actively  at  work  during  the  past  year. 

There  was  a  campaign  in  Alabama  for  the  governorship,  as  in  Georgia. 
One  of  the  candidates  was  in  favor  of  our  reform  from  the  beginning  and 
the  other  saw  his  way  clear,  before  the  close  of  the  campaign,  to  come  out 
upon  our  platform.  The  convention  nominated  him,  he  being  the  successful 
candidate,  and  the  child  labor  plank  was  put  into  the  platform  of  the  party. 

The  Alabama  law  needs  amendment  in  striking  out  that  miserable  ten 
year  exception  for  children  who  have  no  other  means  of  support,  or  who 
have  to  support  somebody  else  who  has  no  other  means  of  support.  Ala- 
bama ought  also  to  have  factory  inspection.  We  are  almost  without  factory 
inspection  in  the  entire  South  as  yet,  and  that  is  the  most  urgent  thing  upon 
cur  program  in  all  the  Southern  States  where  it  is  lacking;  also  we  need 
to  raise  the  age  limit  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years  for  children  in  mines, 
and  from  twelve  to  fourteen  for  children  who  cannot  read  and  write. 

The  Georgia  law  has  a  twelve  year  age  limit  with  the  same  ten  year 
exception  which  was  forced  into  the  bill  against  our  consent;  but  it  provides 
that   children   under   eighteen    must   attend    school    three   months   of   each 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  165 

year  as  a  prerequisite  to  employment  the  next  year.  I  think  the  eighteen 
year  age  limit  for  children  who  have  not  fulfilled  some  educational  require- 
ment is  the  highest  in  the  country.  Massachusetts  used  to  have  a  law  that 
no  minors  should  be  employed  in  a  mill  unless  they  attended  school  at 
night  simultaneously  with  their  employment.  The  school  term  is  short,  only 
three  months  of  the  year;  but  that  is  a  great  advance  for  Georgia;  it 
gives  the  little  fellows  a  holiday  for  three  months  of  the  year  from  the  mill, 
and  also  some  opportunities  for  education.  I  understand  that  the  mill  own- 
ers are  already  telling  the  parents  that  have  been  sending  their  children  to 
the  mill  this  year  that  they  cannot  be  employed  next  year  unless  they  send 
them  off  to  school. 

The  twelve  year  age  limit  is  the  general  limit.  Then  for  the  children 
of  widowed  mothers  or  crippled  fathers  it  is  ten  years;  but  we  have  guarded 
that  as  carefully  as  we  could,  although  we  had  to  put  it  in.  We  have  an 
officer  of  the  county  called  the  county  ordinary,  a  sort  of  county  judge.  The 
parent  is  required  to  make  an  affidavit  before  him  that  the  family  is  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  labor  of  that  child  and  that  without  such  labor  the 
family  will  be  in  the  poor  house.  With  that  provision  we  do  not  think  the 
abuse  will  be  very  great,  and  we  hope  to  amend  the  law  next  summer,  as 
Georgia  is  one  of  the  states  whose  legislatures  meet  every  year. 

There  has  been  considerable  effort  in  Oklahoma  to  put  the  child  labor 
plank  into  the  new  constitution. 

The  Florida  legislature  meets  in  January,  1907,  and  there  is  good 
prospect  of  passing  a  child  labor  law  for  the  protection  of  the  children 
in  the  cigar  factories  and  canning  factories,  especially.  In  South  Carolina 
we  have  not  met  with  much  encouragement  as  yet  from  the  press,  and 
there  seems  to  be  a  general  spirit  of  contentment  with  the  present  law; 
the  twelve  year  age  limit  with  the  ten  year  exception  and  the  provision 
that  dependent  children  of  any  age  can  be  employed  in  the  mills. 

The  South  Carolina  legislature  meets  in  January,  1907.  The  mill  men 
have  been  contending  for  a  system  of  compulsory  education,  though  the 
age  limit  suggested,  twelve  years,  was  rather  low,  while  the  labor  repre- 
sentatives have  been  agitating  for  a  shorter  working  day,  the  mill  men  also 
having  decided  to  reduce  the  hours  to  sixty  hours  a  week  by  1910. 

The  Tennessee  legislature  also  meets  in  January,  1907.  Tennessee 
already  has  a  fourteen  year  age  limit  and  the  friends  of  the  children  have 
resisted  several  efforts  of  the  manufacturers  to  lower  the  age  limit.  The 
great  need  in  Tennessee  is  legislation  which  shall  give  full  rights  and  privi- 
leges to  the  factory  inspectors. 

I  presume  that  there  will  be  no  agitation  on  the  child  labor  cause  in 
the  oilier  southern  states  during  the  year  1907. 

A.  J.  McKelway,  Assistant  Secretary. 


i66  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

REPORT  OF  THE  CHILD  LABOR  COMMISSION  OF  THE  STATE 

OF  OREGON 

I  submit  herewith  report  of  the  work  of  the  Child  Labor  Commission  for 
such  use  as  you  may  require. 

In  Portland  alone  231  permits  were  used  for  vacation  work  for  chil- 
dren between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  fourteen.  Our  law  gives  permission 
for  this,  stipulating  that  the  employment  must  be  such  that  will  not  injure 
the  health  or  morals.  We  were  very  particular  as  to  this  point,  which  ac- 
counts for  the  number  not  being  any  larger. 

Three  hundred  and  sixty-three  age  and  schooling  certificates  have  been 
issued  from  January  ist  to  date  to  children  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  sixteen  who  can  fulfil  the  requirements. 

Since  the  inauguration  of  the  juvenile  court  and  the  appointment  of  a 
truant  officer,  the  child  labor  work  has  been  helped  from  both  sources — 
both  have  learned  that  child  labor  is  not  a  blessing,  as  they  had  previously 
supposed — and  that  there  was  a  great  deal  more  than  either  of  them  had 
believed.  There  has  been  a  great  gain  in  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  law 
and  its  enforcement. 

There  are  at  present  ten  cases  filed  with  the  district  attorney,  being 
*'held  up"  by  that  official  during  the  good  behavior  of  the  employers. 

The  best  we  can  do  under  the  present  state  of  affairs  is  to  keep  at  it, 
filing  information  whenever  that  becomes  necessary,  and  keep  on  building 
sentiment  in  favor  of  the  law.  The  labor  unions  constantly  assert  their 
sympathy  with  the  law,  and  the  members  serenely  go  on  working  alongside 
of  children  violating  the  law  without  a  protest  either  to  the  commission,  to 
the  employers  or  to  the  union  whose  principles  they  are  violating.  Of 
course  I  understand  the  reasons — their  jobs  would  be  forfeited — but  I  feel 
that  if  we  could  emphasize  this  feature  of  the  case  we  might  secure  a 
closer  co-operation  among  the  forces  who  are  supplying*  a  good  share  of  the 
child  labor. 

In  the  model  child  labor  law  there  is  a  form  for  employment  ticket. 
This  I  have  found  to  be  almost  useless,  as  it  is  only  with  the  first  ppplica- 
tion  that  it  is  filed.  After  the  child  has  once  received  his  age  and  schooling 
certificate  he  changes  his  employment  at  will  without  reporting  to  the  inspec- 
tors again.  Do  you  expect  to  take  up  the  discussion  of  such  things  at  the 
meeting?    I  regret  so  much  that  I  cannot  attend. 

Another  thing — I  find  that  our  district  attorney  cannot  tell  me  whether 
or  not  the  papers  have  been  filed  on  the  appeal  of  the  child  labor  case  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court — it  would  be  useless  to  do  as  Mrs.  Kelley  sug- 
gested— ask  the  employers  in  this  case  to  hold  it  up — it  involves  the  messen- 
ger companies,  and  there  is  no  such  thing  as  compromise  with  that  clement. 

I  hope  that  there  is  something  in  the  foregoing  that  will  indicate  that 
Oregon  is  not  asleep — we  may  not  be  going  forward  very  rapidly,  but  we  are 
working. 

Millie  R.  Trumbull^  Secretary. 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  167 

REPORT  OF  THE  WARREN  CHILD  LABOR  LEAGUE,  OF  WARREN, 

OHIO 

In  compliance  with  your  request,  I  send  to  you  the  following  report  of 
the  work  of  the  Warren  Child  Labor  League : 

In  September,  as  the  result  of  suggestions  received  from  the  New  York 
office  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  a  local  Child  Labor  League 
was  organized  at  Warren  with  thirty-one  members,  each  contributing  $2  to 
the  sL-.pport  of  the  national  work.  An  executive  committee  was  appointed 
with  power  to  appoint  committees,  to  call  meetings,  and  in  general  to  take 
all  steps  necessary  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  local  league.  That  committee 
accordmgly  appointed  an  investigation  committee  of  five  to  ascertain  what 
children  of  school  age  were  out  of  school  and  what  such  children  were 
domg. 

Thanks  to  the  efficiency  of  the  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  and 
the  truant  officer,  not  many  children  of  school  age  were  found  outside  of 
school.  Some  such,  however,  were  found.  Those  who  were  simply  truants 
were  reported  to  the  truant  officer  and  were  brought  into  the  schools.  Those 
who  were  found  working  without  proper  certificates  were  reported  to  the 
supermtendent  and  their  cases  further  investigated,  inasmuch  as  some 
children  were  workmg  because  of  the  neglect  of  the  father  to  contribute  to 
the  support  of  the  family.  The  mayor,  who  is  also  a  member  of  the  execu- 
tive committee,  was  appointed  a  committee  of  one  to  see  that  proper  legal 
steps  were  taken  to  force  such  parents  to  do  their  duty  and  to  keep  their 
children  in  school.  To  provide  for  cases  of  other  children  at  work,  because 
their  families  needed  their  help  a  committee  of  three  was  appointed  to  ob- 
tain from  public  funds  and  from  funds  of  private  organizations  means  al- 
ready available  to  help  such  families.  Should  these  sources  prove  inade- 
quate such  further  steps  will  be  taken  as  the  case  seems  to  demand. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  league  the  executive  committee  sent 
a  committee  of  one  to  notify  the  manufacturers  of  its  existence  and  to 
solicit  their  active  co-operation  in  the  work.  All  manufacturers  who  were 
approached  spoke  kindly  of  the  work  and  denied  having  any  desire  to 
employ  child  labor.  The  committee  has  not  yet  called  their  attention  to  the 
children  who  were  in  their  factories,  because  very  few  illegal  cases  were 
found,  and  those  were  taken  out  of  the  factories;  and  because  the  commit- 
tee is  not  yet  certain  that  the  whole  situation  has  been  completely  uncovered, 
and  is  continuing  its  investigations.  Should  other  cases  be  discovered  the 
manufacturers  will  be  given  an  opportunity  to  actively  co-operate  v.ith  the 
committee  in  the  work  of  ending  the  illegal  employment  of  child  labor  in 
Warren.  Should  they  fail  to  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity,  the  cases 
will  be  reported  to  the  state  factory  inspector. 

The  organization  of  the  league  has  already  been  a  stimulus  and  encour- 
agement to  faithful  officials,  and  has  had  a  perceptible  influence  upon  the 
public.  The  subject  has  been  discussed  in  club  meetings;  members  of 
the  league  have  been  drawn  out  pleasantly  at  social  meetings;   and  kindly 


i68  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

allusions  have  been  made  by  press  and  by  pulpit;  some  children  at  work 
without  proper  certificates  have  voluntarily  gone  to  the  superintendent  to 
obtain  such  certificates;  some  children  who  ought  not  to  have  been  employed 
were  discharged  before  their  cases  could  be  reached  by  the  committee.  There 
has  been  some  agitation,  and  even  some  restraint,  shown  by  parents  of 
children  interested. 

On  December  12th  will  be  held  the  first  open  meeting  of  the  league  since 
its  organization.  On  December  19th  Mr.  Lovejoy,  of  your  committee,  is 
to  bring  the  subject  of  America's  working  children  before  the  citizens  of 
Warren. 

Phebe  T.  Sutliff,  Chairman. 


REPORT  OF  THE  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE  OF  THE  STATE  OF 

NEW  YORK 

During  the  past  year  the  New  York  State  Consumers'  League  has  given 
much  time  and  energy  to  the  subject  of  our  working  child. 

The  committee  on  press  and  legislation  wrote  many  letters  to  senators 
and  representatives  in  Albany  urging  the  passage  of  the  laws  for  the  laboring 
child  then  before  them. 

Our  organization  has  felt  the  need  of  more  effective  co-operation  among 
the  women  of  New  York  State. 

To  this  end  we  have  joined  the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs.  We  hope 
by  affiliation  with  the  various  women's  clubs  to  get  at  the  conditions  of 
child  labor  in  the  cities,  towns  and  villages  of  our  state. 

For  this  purpose  and  to  arouse  intelligent  interest  we  have  prepared  a 
syllabus  of  study  for  clubs  and  reading  circles  on  "Our  Working  Child."  We 
have  tried  to  make  it  simple,  clear  and  practically  useful.  It  has  only  just 
been  published,  so  that  we  cannot  report  on  its  effectiveness,  but  the  cor- 
respondence with  clubs  and  leagues  has  been  encouraging. 

The  aims  we  have  in  our  work  are  to  awaken  a  lively  interest  in  school 
attendance  and  in  the  school  census.  We  ask  the  women  of  the  state  to 
see  to  it  not  only  that  efficient  attendance  officers  are  appointed,  but  that 
the  work  of  such  officials  is  upheld  by  strong  public  sentiment.  We  hope 
to  help  in  the  work  of  arousing  interest  in  favor  of  efficient  manual  train- 
ing as  an  incentive  for  the  child  to  remain  in  school  beyond  the  required 
age  of  fourteen.  We  hope  to  be  one  of  the  forces  guiding  public  opinion 
toward  such  readjustments  of  our  social  life  as  shall  make  possible  and 
hasten  the  day  of  a  more  prolonged  childhood  than  our  state  now  finds  pos- 
sible. 

We  are  interested  in  having  uniform  laws  for  child  laborers  in  our 
country,  and  by  collating  the  laws  of  our  own  state  and  working  for  their 
proper  enforcement  we  hope  to  be  doing  something  for  this  larger  aim. 

Mrs.  a.  M.  Beardsley,  Secretary. 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  169 

REPORT  FROM  THE  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

The  league  has  assisted  by  personal  investigation  in  the  enforcement 
of  the  factory  act,  especially  in  retail  establishments,  and  has  had  over  one 
hundred  violations  of  this  act  removed. 

It  has  received  complaints  of  the  violations  of  the  law,  and  referred 
them  to  the  factory  inspector's  office,  through  the  State  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee. 

It  has  co-operated  in  general  work  for  child  labor  reform  through 
representation  on  the  State  Child  Labor  Committee. 

In  connection  with  the  Pennsylvania  Child  Labor  Committee,  it  has 
helped  to  organize  the  industrial  exhibit,  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  which 
is  to  represent  child  labor  conditions  in  this  state. 

It  has  printed  and  distributed  among  working  girls  popular  and  simpli- 
fied copies  of  the  child  labor  act  in  the  form  of  questions  and  answers.  I 
am  enclosing  a  copy  of  the  circular. 

It  has  aided  by  means  of  addresses,  distribution  of  literature,  etc.,  in 
arousing  popular  opinion  on  the  subject  of  child  labor. 

Florence  L.  Sanville,  Secretary. 


REPORT  FROM  THE  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE  OF  MARYLAND 

Early  in  the  year  1905  the  Consumers'  League  decided  to  study  the 
conditions  of  the  child  labor  problems  of  Baltimore  and  to  try  to  arouse 
interest  in  them. 

In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  the  annual  meeting  of  1905  was  devoted 
to  this  subject,  and  the  speaker,  Dr.  S.  M.  Lindsay,  made  an  address  on  "The 
Working  Child."  In  the  spring  of  the  same  year  the  league  engaged  a 
trained  social  worker,  Miss  M.  L.  White,  to  make  a  preliminary  investiga- 
tion, under  the  auspices  of  the  Maryland  Bureau  of  Statistics,  into  the  con- 
ditions of  children  at  work  in  the  factories  and  canning  houses  of  Baltimore. 
The  results  of  this  investigation  were  published  under  the  title  of  "Child 
Labor  in  Baltimore,"  and  the  pamphlets  were  widely  circulated. 

In  the  autumn  of  1905  the  Consumers'  League  became  convinced  of  the 
need  of  additional  information  from  a  diflferent  standpoint,  and  employed 
Miss  Elizabeth  Spicer  to  inquire  into  the  home  conditions  of  working  chil- 
dren. 

The  data  thus  obtained  was  edited  and  published  in  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"A  Study  of  Working  Children  in  Baltimore."  Many  meetings  were  held 
and  much  literature  was  distributed  in  the  interest  of  the  same  subject. 
From  the  work  of  the  Consumers'  League  along  these  lines  there  developed 
a  general  realization  of  the  definite  need  for  legislation,  and  the  Maryland 
Child  Labor  Committee  was  formed,  and  the  Dorton  child  labor  bill  was 
drawn  up.  After  a  hard-fought  contest,  the  bill  finally  passed  the  legis- 
lature with  some  of  its  provisions  altered. 


170  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  chief  gains  are:  (i)  Appointment  of  factory  inspectors  to  enforce 
the  law;  (2)  an  educational  qualification  for  all  children  under  sixteen 
and  an  investigation  of  the  child's  physical  fitness  for  work;  (3)  the  appli- 
cation of  the  law  to  the  whole  state. 

The  league  hopes  to  extend  its  educational  work  throughout  the  State 
of  Maryland,  and  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  secure  the  active  co-operation 
of  individuals  in  the  several  counties. 

A  good  beginning  was  made  this  summer  by  having  the  work  pre- 
sented at  two  conventions.  Miss  L.  V.  North  and  Dr.  Thaddeus  Thomas, 
of  the  Woman's  College,  delivered  the  addresses  at  Mountain  Lake  Park, 
and  Miss  North  went  to  Ocean  City  to  address  the  Tri-County  Institute  of 
Public  School  Teachers  of  Worcester,  Somerset  and  Wicomico  Counties. 

A  number  of  applications  for  literature  followed  this  meeting.  At  present 
the  league  is  trying  to  take  an  intelligent  interest  in  the  working  of  the 
two  laws  that  chiefly  affect  children,  viz. :  the  school  attendance  law  and 
the  child  labor  law — and  it  has  also  undertaken  to  raise  money  for  a  pen- 
sion as  a  substitute  for  child  labor  earnings. 

The  league  now  has  an  advertisement  in  the  street  cars  calling  attention 
to  early  Christmas  shopping,  in  order  to  spare  women  and  children  workers 
the  usual  Christmas  rush. 

Mrs.  Daniel  Miller^  Corresponding  Secretary. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON   CHILD  LABOR  OF  THE 
MASSACHUSETTS  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE 

The  Committee  on  Child  Labor  can  report  no  definite  advance  in  its 
legislative  work  for  the  year  1906.  A  bill  was  framed  to  limit  the  labor 
of  children  under  sixteen  from  7  a.  m.  to  7  p.  m.,  but  on  consultation  with 
certain  members  of  the  trades  unions  we  found  that  such  a  bill  would  be 
regarded  by  them  as  of  positive  injury  to  their  overtime  bill.  This  bill  has 
figured  very  largely  in  Massachusetts  politics  for  the  last  two  years,  and  is 
an  attempt  to  close  the  textile  factories  in  the  evening  hours  by  preventing 
the  labor  of  women  and  minors  after  6  p.  m.  We  decided  to  withhold  our 
bill  last  year,  but  at  present  we  are  expecting  to  introduce  it. 

In  order  to  ascertain  more  definitely  the  number  of  children  under  six- 
teen who  are  now  employed  after  7  p.  m.  the  secretary  of  the  Consumers' 
League  made  an  investigation  of  the  five  and  ten  cent  stores,  the  district 
messenger  service  and  the  fruit  and  candy  stores.  The  report  of  this  investi- 
gation is  appended  hereto.  Although  most  of  the  investigation  was  under- 
taken in  the  City  of  Boston,  it  is  believed  that  the  situation  regarding  the 
employment  of  children  is  not  greatly  different  in  the  other  cities  of  the 
state. 

As  the  friends  of  the  overtime  bill  feel  that  the  bill  is  as  good  as  passed, 
namely,   that   it   is   not   likely  to   meet   with   opposition   this   year,   it   seems 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  171 

probable  that  we  can  introduce  the  bill  preventing  evening  work  for  those 
under  sixteen  at  the  coming  session  of  the  legislature,  and  the  strong 
public  sentiment  which  is  at  present  aroused  in  favor  of  preventing  the  labor 
of  children  will  doubtless  mean  that  the  bill  will  go  through  the  legislature 
very  easily. 

Though  unable  to  push  forward  this  legislation,  we  rendered  aid  to 
two  other  bills;  one  of  these,  introduced  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
State  Board  of  Education,  defined  more  clearly  the  educational  requirements 
of  the  bill  preventing  the  labor  of  illiterate  children  between  fourteen  and 
sixteen,  for  which  our  committee  was  sponsor  the  preceding  year.  This 
bill  was  passed.  The  other  bill,  introduced  on  the  recommendation  of  Gov- 
ernor Guild,  made  the  visits  of  truant  officers  to  factories  or  shops  where  it 
was  suspected  that  children  under  fourteen  were  employed  mandatory  on 
the  school  boards  of  the  different  cities  and  towns.  This  bill  also  passed 
the  legislature. 

The  Civic  League  of  Massachusetts  was  largely  instrumental  in  placing 
on  the  statute  books  an  act  relative  to  the  appointment  of  school  physicians 
in  every  city  and  town  of  the  commonwealth,  requiring  that  these  physicians 
should  examine  the  children  not  only  when  there  was  sign  of  infectious  or 
contagious  disease,  but  also  requiring  them  to  ascertain  whether  the  chil- 
dren were  troubled  with  defective  sight,  hearing  or  other  permanent  dis- 
ability. This  act  went  into  effect  in  September,  1906.  It  has  therefore 
seemed  wise  for  our  Child  Labor  Committee  to  consider  the  introduction  of 
a  bill  requiring  some  sort  of  physical  examination  before  the  granting  of  a 
working  certificate  by  the  school  authorities.  A  member  of  our  committee 
is  now  looking  up  the  methods  pursued  in  New  York  in  carrying  out  the 
law  already  operative  there  requiring  such  physical  test.  It  has  seemed  to 
us  that  the  office  of  school  physician  might  be  made  more  important  and 
effective  if  such  duties  are  added  to  those  already  undertaken  by  him. 

The  subject  of  child  labor  was  presented  twice  to  meetings  in  Boston 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Consumers'  League  by  Mr.  Owen  Love- 
joy  and  Mrs.  Florence  Kelley,  and  we  are  now  planning  a  conference  in 
January  which  will  be  entirely  devoted  to  the  interests  of  child  labor. 

Appendix:  Report  of  investigation  of  night  work  of  children  under  six- 
teen in  Hve  and  ten  cent  stores,  m&ssenger  boy  agencies  and  fruit  and 
candy  stores. 

The  investigation  was  undertaken  to  see  what  the  difficulties  would  be 
in  the  way  of  passing  a  bill  prohibiting  night  work  of  children  under  sixteen 
in  Massachusetts, 

Evidently  there  is  no  night  employment  of  children  under  sixteen  on  any 
larger  scale.  The  messenger  agencies  prefer  to  employ  none  but  the  older 
boys  at  night,  and  do  not  consider  that  the  proposed  law  would  interfere 
with  them.  However,  small  boys  are  occasionally  seen  delivering  parcels  and 
messages  at  night. 


172  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  five  and  ten  cent  stores  are  careful  to  comply  with  all  require- 
ments of  the  law;  and,  generally  speaking,  their  girls  are  sixteen  years  of 
age  or  over;  but  in  the  evenings  extra  girls  come  on  to  help  with  the  extra 
work,  mostly  from  the  high  schools,  and  these  girls  are  below  sixteen.  The 
law  proposed  would  prevent  their  working;  and  they  would  probably  con- 
sider it  objectionable,  as  they  seem  to  enjoy  the  evening  work,  and  make 
enough  to  pay  for  their  lunches  and  car  fares  during  the  week  at  school. 

In  the  small  stores  a  child  was  occasionally  found  helping  its  rela- 
tions, but  these  cases  were  seldom. 

Besides  interviewing  the  managers  of  these  various  businesses,  the 
investigator  had  interviews  with  Mr.  Pidgin,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  cf  Sta- 
tistics of  Labor;  Judge  Harvey  Baker,  of  the  Boston  Juvenile  Court;  Mr. 
Boker,  officer  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities;  Mr.  Wise  and  Mr.  Keefe, 
probation  officers;  and  Mr.  Birtwell,  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  to  see 
what  light  their  experience  would  shed  on  the  question. 

Apparently  none  of  them  had  the  night  work  of  children  brought  to 
their  attention,  which  would  seem  to  prove  that  there  is  comparatively  little 
of  it  in  Boston. 

The  court  officers  had  not  noticed  that  messenger  boys  were  conspicu- 
ously delinquent;  they  did  not  remember  any  instance  of  such  boys  having 
been  prosecuted  for  theft.  The  managers  of  the  messenger  boy  companies, 
however,  admitted  the  temptations  to  thieving  in  their  business,  and  had  had 
experience  of  theft  by  the  boys.  Probably  they  find  it  expedient  to  keep 
such  cases  out  of  court. 

The  Children's  Aid  Society  questioned  its  agents  as  to  their  experi- 
ence of  night  work  of  children.  Three  cases  of  messenger  boys  under  six- 
teen who  had  been  known  to  work  at  night  were  mentioned;  one  or  two 
vague  mentions  were  made  of  children  who  had  been  seen  in  stores  late 
at  night;  and  it  was  also  reported  that  children  are  employed  at  night  in 
jam  factories  in  summer.  Even  the  bulk  of  the  newsboys,  however,  reported 
as  not  working  after  supper. 

Summary. — A  law  prohibiting  night  work  between  7  p.  m.  and  6  a.  m. 
of  children  under  sixteen  in  Boston  would  affect  a  minority  of  the  girls 
in  the  five  and  ten  cent  stores,  and  would  altogether  prevent  the  extra  high 
school  help  in  the  evenings;  would  make  little  difference  in  the  messenger 
service;  and  practically  none  at  all  in  the  small  store  business.  There  do 
not  seem  to  be  any  strong  interests  that  could  be  summoned  against  the 
proposed  bill. 

Edith  M.  Howes^  Chairman, 


REPORT  FROM  DETROIT  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  our  most  strenuous  work  just  now.  During 
November,  December  and  January  we  are  employing  a  trained  worker  to 
make  some  investigation  for  us.    He  is  Mr.  V.  T.  Randall,  whom  you  may 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  173 

know,  as  lie  has  worked  much  in  New  York.  Last  month  he  devoted  most 
of  his  time  to  photographing  scenes  in  districts  where  child  labor  and  sweat 
shops  would  most  likely  exist.  These  pictures  were  shown  at  the  Art 
Museum  before  a  large  and  enthusiastic  audience  at  the  end  of  the  month  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Social  Conference  Club.  Mr.  Randall  found  no  sweat  shop 
or  home  workers'  problem  to  speak  of  in  Detroit,  and  it  seems  to  be  the 
general  opinion  that  there  is  very  little  home  work  done  here,  and  practically 
no  great  sweat  shop  problem,  but  we  are  now  employing  Mr.  Randall 
for  the  next  two  months  in  making  a  thorough  investigation  of  factories 
where  women  and  children  are  employed,  to  look  up  bad  conditions  of  that 
kind.  He  is  to  go  as  a  licensed  health  board  inspector,  and  secure  what 
evidence  he  can  find  of  child  labor  violations.  We  are  asking  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  ministers  of  the  city  for  reports  of  any  and  all  cases  they  may 
know  about. 

The  subject  of  early  Christmas  shopping  comes  up  every  year  for 
agitation,  and  we  have  accomplished  much  in  Detroit  through  our  daily 
papers,  suburban  papers,  leaflets  and  folders,  and  this  year  we  are  hanging 
100  printed  cards  enumerating  the  advantages  in  early  shopping,  and  signed 
by  the  league,  in  all  of  our  prominent  stores  of  the  city.  We  are  now  very 
well  known  as  an  organization,  and  I  believe  very  favorably  known  in 
Detroit,  and  have  introduced  the  labeled  garments  in  all  of  our  best  stores, 
and  created  some  demand  for  them  in  the  four  years  of  our  organization. 

Florence  G.  Taylor,  Corresponding  Secretary. 


REPORT  FROM  THE  KENTUCKY  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE 

The  work  of  the  Consumers'  League  of  Kentucky  during  the  past  year 
has  been  to  visit  the  homes  of  truant  children  and  to  remove  the  cause  for 
truancy  either  by  persuasion  or  money.  But  few  cases  were  found  to  need 
money,  and  these  needed  it  only  for  an  emergency. 

Factories  are  also  visited  by  the  league,  and  the  cases  of  young  chil- 
dren given  permits  to  work  are  looked  into,  and  the  children  sent  to  school 
if  this  can  be  managed. 

During  the  coming  year  this  visiting  will  be  even  more  persistent,  and  a 
strong  effort  will  be  put  forth  to  double  the  number  of  truant  officers. 

These  officers  make  reports  to  the  league  and  call  upon  it  whenever 
a  child  is  found  at  home  because  of  lack  of  food  or  clothing.  Having  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  Louisville  School  Board  to  enforce  the  law  by  dint  of 
much  urging  and  threats  of  a  mandamus  proceeding,  the  league  feels  more 
responsibility  about  the  results  of  this  law  than  of  any  other  branch  of 
the  Consumers'  League  work. 


174  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

REPORT  FROM  CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  CONSUMERS' 
LEAGUE  OF  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 

The  work  of  the  Consumers'  League  in  Cleveland  for  the  protection  of 
children,  to  February,  1906,  can  best  be  shown  by  quoting  freely  from  the 
last  report  of  the  president  of  the  society,  Mrs.  Marie  Jenney  Howe.  She 
writes  as  follows : 

'Tn  Ohio  there  is  a  state  law  to  the  effect  that  no  boy  under  sixteen  and 
no  girl  under  eighteen  may  legally  be  employed  after  7  o'clock  at  night. 
In  Cleveland  there  is  a  group  of  women  who  have  undertaken  to  see  that 
this  law  is  enforced.  They  want  to  find  out  what  such  a  law  means.  They 
are  finding  out  what  it  means  to  the  factory  inspector,  the  employer  and  the 
general  public.  To  the  factory  inspector  it  means  hard  work;  to  a  few  em- 
ployers of  minors  it  means  'meddlesomeness,  interference,  foolishness.' 
,  .  .  To  the  general  public  the  law  means  nothing  at  all,  because  the 
general  public  does  not  know  of  its  existence. 

'Tn  enforcing  such  a  law  it  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  assist  the  factory 
inspector,  convert  the  skeptical  employer,  and  educate  an  indifferent  public. 

"Another  state  law,  conveying  practically  the  same  intention,  prohibits 
the  employment  of  minors  under  eighteen  for  more  than  ten  hours  a  day. 
or  fifty-five  hours  a  week.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that  these  two 
laws  apply  not  only  to  factory  hands,  but  also  to  cash  girls,  delivery  boys 
and  messenger  boys.  Most  retail  stores  employ  some  minors  under  eighteen. 
The  great  temptation  to  infringement  is  just  before  Christmas,  when  many 
stores  are  kept  open  every  evening  for  two  weeks. 

"The  women  who  have  determined  to  protect  young  people  from  the 
strain  of  overwork  at  Christmas  time,  aie  the  members  of  the  Ohio  Consum- 
ers' League.  Their  work  began  in  November,  1904.  It  was  greatly  rein- 
forced by  the  Hon.  John  Morgan,  chief  inspector  of  workshops  and  factories 
for  Ohio.  Mr.  Moigan  sent  instructions  to  his  district  deputies  requiring 
them  to  watch  for  the  illegal  employment  of  minors  at  night.  .  .  .  The 
chief  inspector  for  Cleveland  mailed  to  every  employer  of  minors  in  his 
district  a  printed  notice  of  the  child  labor  laws.  He  also  accepted  the  as- 
sistance of  a  committee  from  the  Consumers'  League  in  a  personal  visitation 
of  the  Cleveland  stores. 

"The  committee  from  the  Consumers'  League  called  on  the  merchants 
in  delegations  of  one,  two  or  three.  In  each  store  they  asked  for  the  manager, 
and  inquired  whether  he  had  received  the  notice  mailed  by  the  factory  in- 
spector. 

**In  many  instances  the  placard  was  in  plain  sight.  Often  the  claim 
was  made  that  no  such  notice  had  been  seen.  In  such  cases  the  committee 
offered  to  supply  the  deficiency  with  one  from  their  own  stock  in  hand. 
'The  inspector  will  make  his  rounds  next  week,'  the  manager  was  informed. 
'He  will  look  for  the  printed  notice  of  the  child  labor  laws.  He  will  see 
to  it  that  the  laws  are  posted  and  that  they  are  enforced.* " 

The  report  called  attention  to  some  remarkable  evasions  of  the  law,  and 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  175 

that  some  employers  thought  that  child  labor  laws  were  made  for  ornament 
only.    The  report  continues : 

"In  the  mind  of  such  men  a  committee  of  women  may  awaken  appre- 
hension, the  inspector's  authority  may  arouse  a  vague  alarm;  but,  after  all, 
a  further  and  culminating  influence  is  required.  This  influence  was  supplied 
by  the  city  solicitor,  Mr.  Newton  D.  Baker.  Quite  early  in  the  campaign 
some  one  had  suggested,  'Telephone  to  Mr.  Baker.'  One  of  our  members  did 
telephone  to  Mr.  Baker,  and  never  was  a  telephone  message  more  effective. 
On  his  own  initiative  and  at  his  own  expense  Mr.  Baker  printed  an  open 
letter  to  the  chief  of  police,  together  with  the  chief's  reply.  This  letter 
urged  immediate  prosecution  of  all  violations  of  the  child  labor  laws.  Two 
thousand  copies  of  this  letter  were  circulated.  To  the  stores  that  were  vis- 
ited we  carried  these  letters.  They  fortified  us.  We  were  listened  to  not  for 
our  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  little  bulletin  that  put  the  law  into  our  hands. 
.  .  .  The  violator  of  the  child  labor  law  seldom  fights.  He  threatens  to 
do  so,  but  he  does  not  carry  out  his  threat.  In  the  first  place,  resistance 
gives  him  an  undesired  publicity,  and  in  the  second  place  he  has  no  case." 

Public  meetings  were  another  factor  in  the  success  of  the  campaign 
waged.  Addresses  or  talks  were  given  at  various  times  during  the  year. 
These  kept  the  subject  constantly  in  the  papers  and  before  the  public  gaze. 

During  the  year  1906  work  has  been  continued  on  the  same  lines.  The 
laws  most  easily  enforced  are  those  forbidding  the  employment  of  children 
under  fourteen  in  any  kind  of  work  during  school  hours.  Mr.  McBane, 
the  truant  officer  of  the  public  schools,  states  that  the  number  of  children 
employed  against  the  provisions  of  the  laws  that  come  within  his  domain 
has  been  diminished  three-fourths.  Children  between  fourteen  and  sixteen 
years  of  age  are  required  to  have  schooling  certificates  from  the  truant  officer 
showing  that  they  are  able  to  read  and  write  the  English  language  before 
they  can  go  to  work.  Most  of  the  cases  that  now  come  before  him  are  viola- 
tions of  this  law,  and  generally  the  child  is  nearly  sixteen  years  old.  Mr. 
McBane  adds  that  the  moral  force  exerted  by  the  Consumers*  League  in 
awakening  an  enlightened  public  sentiment  has  been  of  the  greatest  value 
to  him  in  hjs  work. 

The  inspectors  of  workshops  and  factories  report  that  they  have  prose- 
cuted successfully  nearly  two  hundred  cases  of  violations  of  the  law  during 
the  year  1906.  During  December,  1906,  the  month  when  most  violations 
occur,  they  devote  themselves  almost  entirely  to  the  enforcement  of  the 
child  labor  laws.  There  are  now  few  cases  of  violations  of  the  laws,  and 
those  mostly  of  the  school  certificate  law.  The  truant  officers  and  the  in- 
spectors work  together.  Bowling  alleys  have  received  particular  attention. 
The  necessity  of  a  schooling  certificate  for  the  child  between  fourteen  and 
sixteen  years  of  age  has  been  a  great  protection  to  the  child  under  fourteen. 
The  inspectors  acknowledge  their  great  obligations  to  the  Consumers'  League 
not  only  for  moral  support,  but  for  help  in  specific  cases. 

The  present  work  of  the  Consumers'  League  with  regard  to  the  labor  of 
children  in  Ohio  may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows : 


176  The  Annals  of  the  Ainerican  Academy 

1.  We  create  a  demand  for  goods  bearing  the  Consumers'  label.  In 
the  manufacture  of  these  goods  no  children  under  sixteen  have  been  em- 
ployed. 

2.  We  advertise  a  white  list  of  recommended  stores  in  which  no  chil- 
dren are  illegally  employed. 

3.  We  publish  and  circulate  pamphlets  containing  reliable  information 
about  local  conditions. 

4.  We  publish  and  circulate  brief  summaries  of  state  laws  affecting  work- 
ing women  and  working  children. 

5.  We  are  endeavoring  to  secure  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  by  the 
public  officials  by  calling  the  attention  of  the  public  to  those  laws,  by  calling 
the  attention  of  the  inspectors  to  specific  cases  of  violation,  and  by  educating 
the  people  to  the  enormity  of  child  labor  through  the  press  and  by  means 
of  public  meetings. 

6.  We  are  endeavoring  to  secure  the  appointment  of  women  inspectors 
to  look  after  the  interests  of  women  and  children. 

7.  We  are  endeavoring  to  prevent  the  passage  of  an  amendment  to  the 
present  law  which  now  permits  night  work  for  boys  under  sixteen  years 
of  age  and  girls  under  eighteen.  The  proposed  amendment  would  lower  the 
age  of  girls  from  eighteen  to  sixteen,  and  would  greatly  impair  the  condi- 
tions of  labor  for  working  girls. 

The  measure  of  success  that  has  attended  our  efforts  in  the  past  war- 
rants us  in  looking  hopefully  to  the  future. 

Catharine  Avery,  Chairman. 


REPORT  OF  THE  CINCINNATI  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE 

The  Consumers'  League  of  Cincinnati  comes  before  you  this  afternoon 
before  it  has  reached  its  first  birthday,  so  it  will  not  be  strange  if  we  have  not 
a  great  deal  to  say  or  a  very  long  report  of  things  accomplished  to  present 
to  you.  The  league  was  organized  ten  months  ago,  on  the  19th  of  February, 
1906. 

We  have  had  the  experience  of  all  new  organizations  during  this  bewil- 
dering first  year  of  our  life — a  year  rich  in  opportunities  and  poor  in  the 
means  of  meeting  and  making  the  most  of  these  opportunities.  Very  early 
in  our  career  we  learned  that  it  is  indeed  a  difficult  thing  to  till  the  soil,  sow 
the  seed,  and  reap  the  harvest  all  in  the  same  day.  After  we  had  spent 
some  little  time  in  trying  to  perfect  our  organization,  we  discovered  that 
it  was  necessary  to  begin  at  the  very  alphabet,  to  tell  everybody  with  whom 
we  talked  that  the  Consumers'  League  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  abatement 
of  the  smoke  nuisance,  and  that  it  was  not  exclusively  interested  in  pure 
food.  We  are  still  working  away  at  the  alphabet,  and  shall  not  lay  aside 
the  kindergarten  method  until  the  women  of  Cincinnati  are  letter-perfect. 

Our  first  effort  to  introduce  in  this  city  goods  having  the  Consumers* 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  177 

League  label  met  with  failure.  It  was  our  plan  to  have  an  exhibit  of  these 
garments  at  the  annual  fall  festival  held  in  Cincinnati.  The  accredited  manu- 
facturers to  whom  we  presented  our  plan  were  unwilling  to  share  any  part 
of  the  expense  of  such  an  undertaking,  and  the  exhibit  had  to  be  given  up. 

We  next  turned  our  attention  to  the  merchants  of  the  city.  To  them 
we  sent  a  list  of  ten  or  more  questions  relating  to  the  employment  of  minors, 
the  question  of  summer  vacations  and  half  holidays,  fines,  sanitary  condi- 
tions, etc.  From  the  thirty  odd  lists  out  we  had  perhaps  a  half  dozen 
replies.     The  leading  stores  ignored  us  and  our  questions. 

This  attitude  of  the  merchants  whom  we  most  wished  to  reach  and  to 
influence  has  brought  us  to  the  realization  that  our  first  business  must  be 
the  upbuilding  of  the  league  in  the  point  of  members,  and  the  creating  of 
public  opinion  on  the  subject  of  local  industrial  conditions.  We  have,  there- 
fore, entered  upon  an  "educational"  campaign  which  has  already  begun  to 
produce  results.  During  the  past  month  we  have  addressed  seven  clubs 
and  four  schools,  and  have  made  arrangements  to  speak  on  the  work  of  the 
league,  its  aim  and  ideals,  before  almost  every  organization  of  women  in 
the  city.  As  the  result  of  one  of  these  addresses  a  branch  league  has  just 
been  formed  at  the  Western  College  at  Oxford,  with  sixty-three  members 
enrolled.  This  enterprising  chapter  has  already  drafted  a  set  of  resolutions 
which  have  been  sent  to  our  representatives  m  Congress  urging  the  passage 
of  the  bills  in  which  we  are  all  of  us  so  much  interested. 

At  the  anti-tuberculosis  exhibit  held  in  Cincinnati  in  October  we  dis- 
tributed ten  thousand  circulars  advertising  the  work  and  aims  of  the  league. 
We  employed  an  attendant  to  expUin  to  the  crowds  that  daily  passed  through 
the  rooms  the  photographs  which  were  furnished  by  the  National  Consumers* 
League,  showing  sweat-shop  conditions  in  New  York  City. 

As  the  Christmas  season  drew  near  we  threw  our  energies  into  an  effort 
to  lighten  if  possible  the  burden  that  annually  falls  upon  hundreds  of  women 
and  children  in  our  shops  through  the  indiflference  or  negligence  of  tardy 
shoppers.  The  company  controlling  the  street  car  advertising  generously 
granted  us  space  for  a  card  urging  early  shopping.  It  was  our  privilege  to 
share  this  space  with  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  and  to  turn  half 
our  cards  into  announcements  of  the  meetings  of  this  week. 

Th*"  Consumers'  League  wins  its  right  to  a  place  upon  the  platform  to-day 
because  it  feels  that  the  problem  of  child  labor  in  factory  and  shop  is  its  own 
especial  problem.  From  time  to  time  we  have  tried  very  definitely  to  bring 
before  the  factory  inspectors  such  cases  of  violation  of  our  child  labor  laws 
as  have  come  under  our  observation  as  consumers.  We  have  always  received 
a  most  courteous  response,  and  the  assurance  that  the  cases  have  been  investi- 
gated officially  by  the  local  inspectors.  The  small  number  of  our  inspectors 
in  so  important  a  manufacturing  city  makes  the  enforcement  of  the  child 
labor  laws  very  difficult.  We  believe  that  the  Consumers'  League  can  be 
of  great  service  to  this  cause  of  the  children  of  our  city  by  co-operating 
with  the  inspectors,  with  the  juvenile  court,  and  with  the  public  schools.  We 
offer  our  services  to  the  Ohio  Child  Labor  Committee,  believing  that  it  is 


178  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

wise  to  work  under  the  direction  of  the  forces  organized  especially  to  solve 
this  problem  and  root  out  this  evil. 

Because  the  work  is  at  hand  and  because  the  workers  are  all  too  few, 
we  appeal  to-day  for  a  larger  membership.  The  enthusiasm  of  half  a  dozen 
people,  or  twenty  people,  although  it  is  an  cxcelleiit  thing,  a  contagious 
thing,  and  goes,  therefore,  a  long  way.  does  not  count  for  so  much  as  the 
enthusiasm  of  six  hundred  people  or  a  thousand  people.  We  have  tiebled 
our  membership  since  the  day  of  our  organization,  but  if  we  are  to  accomplish 
results  that  will  tell  we  must  treble  it  again  and  again,  until  every  consumer 
m  Cincinnati  has  realized  the  power  of  his  influence  as  a  consumer  to  con- 
trol and  ameliorate  industrial  conditions,  and  has  allied  himself  with  us  to 
make  an  open  fight  against  child  labor  and  all  other  evil  conditions  that  blot 
our  industrial  history. 

Geraldine  Gordon,  President. 


REPORT  FROM  THE  NATIONAL  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE 

The  National  Consumers'  League  is  a  sort  of  great  grandmother  of  the 
National  Child  Labor  Committee,  and  of  the  lo^al  Child  Labor  Committees, 
also. 

Sixteen  j-ears  ago,  in  New  York  City,  the  Consumers'  League  began  the 
effort  to  stir,  and  educate,  and  organize  the  shopping  public  to  a  new  consid- 
eration of  the  young  workers.  There  was  at  that  time  in  no  state  in  this 
Union  any  legislative  rstrictions  upon  the  hours  of  work  of  young  clerks, 
cash  boys,  cash  girls,  bundle  girls,  delivery  boys,  messenger  boys,  and  all  that 
miscellaneous  army  of  children  who  serve  the  shopping  public  directly  and  in 
sight.  It  was  nine  years  before  the  league  in  New  York  City  grew  into  a 
national  effort  to  educate  the  shopping  public,  carrying  into  the  imagination 
of  the  public  where  its  eye  could  not  go  beyond  the  store,  into  the  factory, 
bringing  into  m.anufacture  the  same  principle  which  the  league  had  been 
applying  to  the  stores,  and  calling  to  the  attention  of  the  shopping  public  the 
rights  of  those  who  serve  them. 

Persuasion  alone  was  not  powerful  enough.  It  appeared  that  even  though 
all  the  most  humane  employers  and  all  the  most  enlightened  shoppers  should 
get  together  and  make  as  much  public  opinion  as  they  could,  there  would  still 
be  an  incredible  number  of  the  goats  separated  from  the  sheep.  The  Con- 
sumers* League  found  itself  driven  to  strive  for  legislation  as  every  philan- 
thropic body  dees  find  itself  driven  to  striving  for  legislation.  It  secured 
information  on  the  relation  of  the  young  employee  to  his  direct  employer, 
the  manufacturer,  the  merchant,  the  telegraph  company,  and  his  indirect  and 
far  more  ruthless  employer,  the  thoughtless  public.  And  for  a  number  of 
years  before  the  formation  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  the 
Consumers'  League  had  been  furnishing  material,  publishing  all  such  trust- 
worthy information  as  we  could  get  together  concerning  the  legislation  of 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  179 

the  different  states ;  and  revealing  the  miserable  lack  of  official  information 
covering  the  situation. 

I  think  that  it  is  not  too  much  to  claim  that,  although  strictly  speaking 
we  do  not  properly  belong  on  this  platform  at  all,  we  yet  have  the  claim  of  a 
hard-working  grandmother  who  did  plan,  a  good  many  years  ago,  for  the 
greater  work  which  the  younger  generation  of  organizations  is  now  carrying 
on. 

In  the  experience  of  the  Child  Labor  Committee  it  is  found  that  the  great 
thing  to  do  is  to  educate  public  opinion,  and  many  reputable  people  some- 
times, wearying  of  this,  say  to  themselves,  "What  have  I  personally  to  do 
with  this?  I  am  not  an  employer.  I  am  not  keeping  any  children  working 
at  night  or  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  or  before  they  can  read  and  write. 
I  have  enough  other  sins  to  answer  for,  why  should  I  take  the  responsi- 
bility for  this  thing?"  Then  the  Consumers'  League  persistently  tries  to  bring 
home  the  fact  that  no  one  is  free  to-day  from  participating  in  this  particular 
evil. 

There  is  no  one  in  this  room  at  this  moment,  I  am  convinced,  who  is  not 
clothed,  in  part  at  least,  with  the  product  of  the  labor  of  young  children. 
That  is  what  we  are  working  for,  to  bring  that  point  home  and  make  it 
plain  to  all  the  people.  Young  children  pick  the  cotton  that  we  are  wear- 
ing; they  help  to  spin  it.  They  help  to  stitch  it  in  the  factories.  They  have 
to  do  with  the  distribution  of  all  our  goods.  They  are  in  the  shoe  factories. 
They  are  in  the  garment  trades  by  thousands.  They  are  in  the  hat  facto- 
ries, and  yesterday,  on  the  street  here  in  Cincinnati,  I  saw  a  very  small  boy 
carrying  home  frames  and  lining,  and  velvet,  for  what  are  evidently  going 
to  be  very  good-looking  bonnets  for  the  women  in  Cincinnati  to  wear.  They 
will  have  been  finished  under  the  sweating  system.  There  is  no  article  of 
our  apparel  except  precious  lace  and  fine  jewelry — cut  stones — of  which  we 
can  be  morally  certain  at  any  moment  that  it  does  not  incorporate  the  labor 
of  young  children.  Thus  to  every  shopper  in  the  United  States,  man  or 
woman,  the  Consumers'  League  can  truthfully  say,  "Thou  art  the  man; 
thou  art  the  woman !"  We  are  all  buying  the  product  of  the  labor  of  these 
children  about  whom  we  are  conferring." 

Florence  Kelley,  Secretary. 


ABSTRACT  OF  REPORT  OF  THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  NATIONAL 
CHILD  LABOR  COMMITTEE  ON  THE  SECOND  YEAR'S 
WORK,  ENDED   SEPTEMBER  30,   1906 

Legislation. — Last  year  was  the  off  year  in  the  biennial  meetings  of  state 
legislatures.  Fourteen  state  legislatures,  however,  were  in  session,  and 
in  all  but  three  child  labor  legislation  was  under  discussion.  Additional  pro- 
tection for  children  was  obtained  in  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Georgia,  Iowa, 
Kentucky,   Louisiana   and   Maryland.    Georgia   and   Iowa,   after   discussion, 


l8o  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

agitation  and  work  covering  several  years,  practically  for  the  first  time  joined 
the  list  of  states  which  legislate  for  their  working  children.  Kentucky  and 
Maryland  made  important  changes  which  promise  more  effective  regulation 
than  they  had  before.  Massachusetts  and  New  York  raised  their  standard 
by  defining  the  educational  test  in  the  first  and  further  restricting  night 
work  in  the  second.  Louisiana  made  a  beginning  in  legislation  to  take  effect 
January  i,  1907,  but  applicable  only  to  cities  and  towns  of  over  10,000  persons. 

The  National  Committee  co-operated  in  all  of  this  work  through  distri- 
bution of  literature,  correspondence  and  general  support.  In  Iowa  it  was 
instrumental  in  bringing  together  into  a  state  committee  the  various  elements 
that  had,  unorganized,  struggled  for  years  without  success.  In  Maryland, 
Georgia  and  Kentucky  representatives  of  our  committee  appeared  before 
the  legislative  assemblies  in  active  support  of  the  bills,  and  the  work  of  our 
southern  office,  opened  in  Atlanta  early  in  1906,  was  concentrated  on  the 
situation  in  Georgia,  which  presented  the  most  difficult  legislative  battle  that 
has  yet  been  fought  for  the  protection  of  children  in  this  country. 

Proposed  legislation  in  Mississippi,  New  Jersey,  Ohio  and  Virginia 
failed  of  passage.  Mississippi  and  Virginia  require  a  large  educational  cam- 
paign. The  night  work  clause  which  is  desired  in  the  New  Jersey  law  is  op- 
posed by  the  glass  industry.  The  minor  changes  asked  for  by  our  strong 
Ohio  State  Committee,  in  what  is  already  a  good  law,  will  be  obtained  in 
due  time. 

In  Congress,  a  bill  to  incorporate  our  National  Committee  passed  the 
Senate  and  is  pending  in  the  House.  Good  progress  was  made  toward  secur- 
ing a  model  child  labor  law  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  a  bill  having 
passed  the  House  and  now  pending  in  the  Senate.  We  worked  through 
the  Citizens'  District  of  Columbia  Child  Labor  Committee,  organized  through 
our  efforts,  for  this  measure.  We  also  actively  supported  bills  for  com- 
pulsory education  and  for  a  national  investigation  of  the  condition  of  v»'orking 
women  and  children,  and  directly  for  a  National  Children's  Bureau  (the 
Crane-Gardner  bill),  introduced  at  our  request. 

Enforcement. — Everywhere  the  greatest  need  has  been  to  secure  better 
enforcement  of  existing  child  labor  legislation  and  to  prevent  evasion  of  the 
law,  which  is  now  so  general  in  many  states.  This  is  the  hardest  task,  de- 
manding better  organization  of  state  and  local  bodies,  and,  above  all,  that 
slow  and  general  education  of  public  sentiment  which  alone  will  enable 
officials  who  are  struggling  to  do  their  duty  in  enforcing  the  law  to  get  the 
necessary  support  from  the  courts  and  in  legislative  appropriations  from 
their  states. 

Publicity. — A  large  share  of  the  efforts  of  our  committee  during  the 
past  has  been  spent  in  securing  wider  publicity  for  the  facts  which  we  have 
gathered  and  the  volume  of  which  is  increasing.  The  country  is  not  yet 
alive  to  the  inroad  that  child  labor  is  making  in  the  American  home  and  in 
our  most  cherished  institutions.  The  public  schools  are  growing  in  efficiency 
and  must  not  be  robbed  of  the  material  which  will  enable  them  to  fulfil  their 
mission  to  teach  all  the  children  of  the  nation. 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  i8i 

Literature  and  Meetings. — The  second  annual  meeting  of  the  National 
Committee,  held  in  Washington,  December,  1905,  brought  together  many 
interesting  papers  and  reports  on  child  labor  conditions,  which  have  been  cir- 
culated both  in  the  form  of  an  annual  volume  and  in  separate  pamphlets, 
together  with  other  publications  of  the  committee.  Over  80,000  pamphlets, 
aggregating  800,000  pages  of  literature,  have  thus  been  distributed.  Meetings 
have  been  held  in  practically  every  state  in  the  Union,  at  which  the  National 
Committee  has  been  represented  and  the  work  of  the  executive  officers  has 
required  many  thousand  miles  of  travel  and  included  over  100  formal  ad- 
dresses in  addition  to  numerous  conferences  and  smaller  meetings.  Requests 
for  literature  and  information  have  come  from  several  hundred  correspon- 
dents, and  many  of  these  requests  have  required  us  to  make  special  investi- 
gations. 

Membership. — During  the  year  an  associate  membership  was  organized, 
made  up  as  follows:  i.  Guarantors,  or  those  who  contribute  to  the  financial 
support  of  the 'committee  for  any  one  fiscial  year  the  sum  of  $100  or  over 
2.  Sustaining  Members,  being  those  who  contribute  $25  or  over,  but  less 
than  $100.  3.  Associates,  who  contribute  less  than  $25,  but  at  least  the 
minimum  fee  of  $2,  which  is  intended  to  cover  merely  the  proportionate 
cost  of  preparation  and  distribution  of  such  literature  as  is  sent  to  all  mem- 
bers. In  response  to  appeal's  for  membership  we  have  received  on  September 
30th  acceptances  from  981  persons,  whose  total  contributions  aggregated  for 
the  year  the  sum  of  $4,973.10.  The  results  are  gratifying,  but  at  least  10,000 
members  are  needed  to  properly  sustain  the  work  that  this  committee  has 
voluntarily  undertaken  to  do  and  for  the  satisfactory  prosecution  of  which 
we  are  dependent  upon  voluntary  contributions. 

The  total  expense  of  the  committee  for  the  second  fiscal  year  amounted 
to  $22,098.65,  which,  by  strict  economy,  accomplished  the  work  laid  out  for 
the  year  for  about  $3,000  less  than  the  estimated  budget.  The  estimates  for 
the  third  year,  in  order  to  provide  for  a  deficit  of  $1,500  still  owing  from 
the  first  year,  and  without  providing  for  any  pronounced  enlargement  of  our 
work,  will  require  the  sum  of  $25,000. 

The  results  thus  far  attained,  the  publicity  that  has  been  given  to  this 
great  and  important  cause,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  now  a  national  problem 
discussed  in  every  part  of  the  country,  imposes  on  us  new  obligations,  and 
promises  far-reaching  remedies  in  case  we  meet  them.  The  fact  that  child 
labor  is  apparently  on  the  increase  for  the  country  as  a  whole  and  for  all 
occupations  collectively  considered,  and  is  certainly  on  the  marked  increase 
in  many  of  our  industrial  states  and  in  occupations  that  are  particularly 
harmful  to  the  health,  morals  and  education  of  the  children  who  enter  them, 
is  a  challenge  to  every  decent  and  right-thinking  American. 

Samuel  McCune  Lindsay^  Secretary. 


l82  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Treasurer's  Report  for  the  Year  Ending  September  30,  1906. 

[As  examined^   audited   and   found   correct   by   Haskins    &   Sells,   of   New 
York,  Certified  Public  Accountants.^ 

DEBITS. 

Cash  on  hand  and  in  bank   October   i,    1905 $106.14 

Receipts. 

Paid  subscriptions   $20,383.91 

Sales  of  literature  124.02 

Sales  of  stationery  and  office  supplies 14.22 

Miscellaneous  receipts 32.00 

Loans    1,500.00 

22,054.15 

Total  debits $22,160.29 

CREDITS. 

Expenses. 

Salaries,    administrative,    $6,000;    investigations,    $3,500; 

clerks  and  stenographers,  $1,827.30 ;  total $1 1,327.30 

Stationery  and  office  supplies 530.75 

Postage    1,154  45 

Investigation  expenses,  miscellaneous  261.80 

Rent    771-50 

Traveling  expenses   48987 

"  "  investigations   500.00 

Printing  i,427i7 

Telephone    146.43 

General  expenses 356.29 

$16,965.56 

Miscellaneous. 

Loans  repaid   $4,750.00 

Special  entertainment  25.64 

Furniture  and  fixtures 320.45 

Stationery  and  office  supplies  on  hand 1535 

For  account  of  North  Carolina  Child  Labor  Committee. .         21.65 

5,13309 

$22,098.65 
Cash  on  hand  and  in  bank  September  30,  1906 $61.64 


Reports  from  Child  Labor  Committees  183 

ASSETS. 

Current  assets:  Cash  on  hand  and  in  bank,  $61.64;  accounts  receiv- 
able, North  Carolina  Child  Labor  Committee,  $21.65;   total..  $83.29 

Office  furniture  and  fixtures,  stationery  and  office  supplies 707.25 

Current  deficit 945-32 

Total    $1,735-86 

LIABILITIES. 

Loans  payable — V.  Everit  Macy   $1,500.00 

Accounts  payable   207.38 

Special  entertainment  fund 28.48 


$1,735.86 


CHILD  LABOR  LEGISLATION 

Schedules  of  Existing  Statutes  and  the  Standard  Child  Labor  Law  Embodying  the 

Best  Provisions  of  the  Most  Effective  Measures  now  in  force.     Handbook 

1907,  Compiled  by  Josephine  C.  Goldmark. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGI 

Introduction.     By    Florence    Kelley    ] 

Schedule  A.    Age  Limit  for  Employment   ^ 

Schedule  B.     Hours    of   Labor    8 

Schedule  C.     Compulsory    Education    li 

Schedule  D.     Educational    Requirements    i^ 

Schedule  E.     Working    Papers    i^ 

Schedule  F.     Dangerous   Occupations    2= 

Schedule  G.     Exemptions: 

a.  Work  is  Allowed  under  Age:  Authorities  who  grant  Exemptions..  27 

b.  Work  is  Allowed  Over  Time 28 

Schedule  H.     Enforcement: 

1.  Child   Labor   Laws    2g 

Directory    of    Officials 30 

Prosecutions    35 

Penalties     36 

2.  Compulsory   Education   Laws    42 

Penalties     42 

What    Constitutes   Effective   Child   Labor   Laws    44 

Standard  Law    47 

Adult  Delinquency  Law    50 

Newsboy  Law   51 

Bill  to  Establish  a  National  Children's  Bureau 53 

Child  Labor  Bill  for  the  District  of  Columbia  53 

Beveridge  Child  Labor  Bill  56 

Some  Recent  Judicial  Decisions 58 

Census  Table  of  Illiterate  Children  64 


PHILADELPHIA 
The  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 


INTRODUCTION. 

This  fifth  annual  issue  of  the  Handbook  reveals^more  clearly 
than  its  predecessors  the  utter  lack  of  adequate  protection  for  work- 
ing children  in  the  United  States.  Not  merely  does  the  recurring 
black  list  of  states  and  territories  in  the  schedules  show  what  re- 
mains to  be  done  in  those  states,  it  indicates  that  the  United  States 
of  America,  as  a  nation,  fails  to  rank  with  the  enlightened  countries 
of  Europe — ^with  England,  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Holland 
and  Scandinavia — when  classed  according  to  its  care  of  its  working 
children.  Indeed,  it  is  with  Russia  rather  than  with  these  nations 
that  the  United  States  compares,  for  Russia  also  permits  little 
children  to  work  all  night. 

The  enlightened  nations  of  Europe  enact  one  law  for  the  "whole  The  Federal 
nation,  leaving  to  the  local  authorities  only  the  duty  of  enforce-  Government. 
ment.  The  Congress  of  the  United  States  enacts  protective  meas- 
ures, for  instance,  for  the  benefit  of  the  cotton  and  glass  industries, 
but  leaves  the  protection  of  the  children  in  those  industries  to  the 
legislatures,  with  the  result  that  many  thousand  little  boys,  in 
many  states,  are  left  free  to  labor  all  night  in  glass  works,  while 
both  little  girls  and  little  boys  work  all  night  in  cotton  mills  in  the 
southern  states. 

The  federal  government  does  not  even  afford  up-to-date 
information  concerning  the  children.  The  census  table  given  on 
p.  64  is  now  seven  years  old.  The  publication  of  this  Handbook,  year 
after  year,  by  a  volunteer  organization,  is  a  standing  reproach. 
Far  more  appropriately  might  the  Handbook  have  appeared  for 
twenty  years  past,  as  a  January  bulletin  of  the  Departm.ent  of 
Labor  or  of  the  Deparcn.ent  of  Education,  or  of  both  in  co-opera- 
tion. 

An  important  step  forward  will  be  taken,  when  Congress 
adopts  the  proposed  bill  for  a  Children's  Bureau,  for  research  and 
publicity,  dealing  with  all  conditions  which  affect  the  life,  health, 
welfare  and  efficiency  of  the  children  of  the  nation.  The  bill  is 
given  on  page  53  •       . 

A  second  bill  still  pending  before  Congress  provides  for  the 
working  children  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  It  is  given  in  full 
in  order  that  every  reader  of  the  Handbook  may  urge  upon  his  or 
her  senator  and  representative  the  necessity  of  voting  for  it,  that 
the  nation's  capital  may  be  removed  from  the  black  list  and  may 
become  an  example  to  the  rest  of  the  country.     See  page  53. 

The  third  bill  now  pending  before  Congress  is  the  Beveridge 
child  labor  bill  (see  p.  56),  which  proposes  to  exclude  from  inter- 
state commerce  all  products  of  mines  and  factories  which  employ 
children  under  the  age  of  fourteen  years.  This  bill  rPcarks  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  federal  legislation.  For  the  first  time,  the  princi- 
ple is  embodied  in  a  proposed  law  that  children  in  Georgia,  Florida 
or  Alabama  have  the  same  right  to  childhood  as  children  in  Oregon 
or  Illinois;  that  the  nation  accepts  the  task  of  safeguarding  its 
future  citizens  against  overwork  in  childhood,  as  it  already  protects 


consumers  against  the  transportation  of  poisons  and  adulterations 
in  their  foodstuffs. 

The  present  confusion  of  state  laws  inflicts  cruel  neglect  upon 
children  in  states  having  least  legislation.  It  is  moreover  unjust 
to  employers  in  the  enlightened  states  to  subject  them  to  the  com- 
petition of  industry  in  states  which  have  no  laws  or  sham  laws 
protecting  boys  and  girls. 
How  Laws  are  Attention   is    called   to    certain    principles   which    should   be 

Weakened.        avoided  in  framing  new  laws  and  amicnding  old  ones. 

The  absence  of  a  closing  hour  at  night  is  a  most  serious  weak- 
ness in  a  child  labor  law.  No  law  affords  real  protection  against 
nightwork — the  greatest  menace  to  the  children— unless  it  fixes  a 
definite  end  of  the  working  day.  This  is  also  the  only  way  to 
enforce  laws  restricting  hours  of  labor  by  the  day  and  by  the  week. 
Without  a  closing  hour,  all  such  restrictions  are  shams. 

Attendance  at  an  evening  school  by  working  children  under  the 
age  of  sixteen  years  should  never  be  prescribed  or  tolerated. 
This  cruel  and  futile  requirement  was,  during  1905,  abolished  in 
Massachusetts  and  replaced  by  the  requirement  that  all  children 
under  sixteen  years  of  age  must  be  able  to  read  and  write  in  the 
English  language  before  beginning  to  work.  Unfortunately,  the 
night  school  requirement,  abolished  in  one  state,  was  enacted  in 
two  others,  and  is  now  in  force  in  nine  states. 

The  early  escape  from  school  leaves  large  numbers  of  children 
free  to  work  too  young.  Thus  eleven  states  have  no  compulsory 
school  attendance  law.  In  Maryland  compulsory  attendance 
ends  at  the  twelfth  birthday  in  Baltimore  and  Alleghany  County, 
and  there  is  none  elsewhere  in  the  state ;  in  Pennsylvania  and 
Rhode  Island  it  ends  at  the  thirteenth  birthday,  and  in  seven- 
teen states  at  the  fourteenth.  The  end  of  compulsory  school 
life  is  the  beginning  of  toil. 

In  eleven  states  where  there  are  no  officials  there  is  no  en- 
forcement. Where  officials  exist  they  are  often  appointed  for 
political  reasons  and  removed  with  every  change  of  administration. 
A  black  chapter  of  American  history  would  be  a  full  and  truthful 
account  of  the  removal  of  factory  inspectors  and  labor  commis- 
sioners by  reason  of  faithful  performance  of  their  duty. 

No  state  has  ever  maintained  a  sufficient  staff  of  officials  for 
the  perfect  protection  of  its  children.  Inspectors  insufficient  in 
number  cannot  enforce  the  law,  however  faithful  and  competent 
they  may  be.  Money  for  salaries,  traveling  and  legal  expenses  is 
needed.  Small  appropriations  (in  some  cases  none  whatever) 
indicate  hostility  to  enforcement. 

The  method  of  issuing  working  papers  may  contribute  largely 
to  weaken  laws.  Certain  states  have  recently  placed  the  issuance  of 
"working-papers"  in  the  hands  of  the  factory  inspectors.  It  is, 
however,  the  duty  of  inspectors  to  inspect,  and  to  prosecute  viola- 
tions of  the  law.  Everything  which  calls  them  away  from  the 
continuous  performance  of  these  two  duties  is  an  injury  to  the 
service.  The  appropriate  officials  for  issuing  "  working -papers " 
are  the  local  boards  of  health,  in  co-operation  with  the  local  boards 
of  education.  In  this  respect,  the  law  of  New  York  excels  the  laws 
of  all  the  other  states  in  proved  efficiency,  and  may  well  be  adopted 
as  the  standard.  Notaries  public  and  factory  inspectors  should  be, 
in  all  cases,  debarred  from  issuing  "working-papers,"  and  factory 
inspectors  should  be  kept  strictly  to  the  tasks  of  inspection  and 
prosecution.     How  far  the  present  usage  differs  from  this  standard 


may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  records  of  prosecutions  in  schedule 
Hb,  and  to  the  Hst  of  authorities  issuing  "working-papers"  in 
schedule  E. 

Faithfulness  and  skill  on  the  part  of  officials  who  issue  work- 
ing-papers are  as  important  as  the  same  qualities  in  inspectors  and 
truant  officers.  Affidavits  of  parent  or  guardian,  still  more  their 
verbal  or  written  statements,  are  utterly  worthless. 

On  this  account  the  decision  of  Judge  Staake,  of  the  Philadelphia 
County  Quarter  Sessions,  February,  1906,  is  the  more  to  be  con- 
demned since  it  declared  unconstitutional  those  sections  of  the 
Pennsylvania  law  which  require  proof  of  age  and  completion  of  an 
educational  minimum.  Instead  of  the  documentary  proof  of  age 
and  the  educational  requirement  which  the  legislature  prescribed, 
such  as  other  enlightened  courts  have  held  constitutional  and  de- 
sirable, the  useless  affidavit  of  parent  or  guardian  is  now  accepted 
as  proof  of  age  in  Pennsylvania. 

Certain  industries  have  hitherto  obtained  exemptions  for 
which  there  is  no  tenable  basis.  Thus,  in  Pennsylvania  the  glass 
industry  has  retained  the  privilege  of  employing  boys  of  fourteen 
years  all  night,  while  other  employers  are  restricted  to  nine  o'clock. 

In  Delaware,  Iowa,  Kentucky  and  Maryland  canneries  are 
exempted  from  the  provisions  of  the  law.  This  is  particularly 
injurious  for  the  children,  because  the  busy  season  in  this  industry 
falls  in  the  months  of  excessive  heat,  rendering  w^ork  peculiarly 
exhausting. 

California  exempts  all  agricultural,  horticultural,  viticultural 
or  domestic  labor  during  the  time  the  public  schools  are  not  in 
session,  or  durmg  other  than  school  hours.  This  makes  it  possible 
to  require  children  to  do  an  unlimited  day's  work  in  addition  to 
going  to  school,  irrespective  of  their  age. 

In  every  state  in  which  domestic  labor  is  exempted,  a  premium 
is  placed  upon  work  at  home,  and  the  sweatmg-system  is  fostered. 

Many  child  labor  laws  are  seriously  weakened  by  exemptions 
of  classes  of  children  who  most  need  protection.  Such  are  orphans, 
children  of  widowed  mothers  or  disabled  fathers,  and  those  ex- 
empted by  reason  of  poverty.  This  last  term  is  so  elastic  as  to 
amount,  in  many  cases,  to  complete  nullification  of  the  intent  of  the 
statute. 

Colorado  strengthens  its  child  labor  and  compulsory  education  Adult 
laws  by  means  of  its  adult  delinquency  law.     This  affords  such  Delinquency 
valuable  protection  to  telegraph  and  messenger  boys  and  many  Law. 
other  classes  of  young  workers  that  it  is  given  in  full  on  p.  50,  in  the 
hope  that  all  the  states  may  adopt  it  as  Illinois,  Nebraska,  Wis- 
consin and  other  states  have  already  done. 

A  great  gain  is  the  lengthening  list  of  states  which  have  an  Recent  Gains 
early  closing  hour  for  children  to  the  age  of  sixteen  years.     This 
comprises  Michigan,  Oregon,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  New  York  and 
Ohio.  Michigan  and  Oregon  fix  six  p.  m.,  the  other  states  seven  p.m. 

During  the  past  year,  the  District  of  Columbia  adopted  a  com- 
pulsory education  law  and  the  following  states  changed  their  child 
labor  laws:  Georgia,  Iowa,  Louisiana,  Kentucky,  Maryland,  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York. 


SCHEDULE  A— AGE  LIMIT 

The  Age  Below  Which  Child  Labor  Is  Prohibited  varies  from  sixteen  to  ten 
years.  The  number  of  employments  prohibited  also  varies  greatly — from  all 
employment  during  school  hours  to  mine  work  only.  Obviously  the  states  which 
prohibit  child  labor  in  several  occupations  have  more  effective  legislation  than 
those  which  prohibit  it  in  only  one  or  two,  even  though  the  age  limit  be  the  same. 

Nine  states  prohibit  employment  under  14  years  of  age  in  stores,  factories 
and  one  or  more  of  the  following  places  of  employment :  offices,  laundries,  hotels, 
theatres,  bowling  alleys,  bakeries;  eight  states  prohibit  employment  in  stores  and 
factories,  while  twelve  states  limit  their  prohibition  to  factories  only.  Twenty- 
two  states  prohibit  employment  of  children  in  mines  to  14  years. 

For  the  first  time,  the  states  which  set  an  age  limit  for  the  telegraph  and 
telephone  service  are  separately  listed.  Eleven  states  prohibit  employment  in 
the  messenger  service  under  14  years,  with  certain  exceptions  in  vacation;  one 
state  (Maryland)  under  12  years.  Washington  and  Wisconsin  prohibit  em- 
ployment of  girls  under  18  in  the  messenger  service. 

Maine,  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  are  the  only  remaining  northern 
states  which  keep  the  12  year  age  limit  (in  vacation).  The  importance  of  this 
lies  in  the  fact  that  all  three  states  have  cotton  mills  employing  children. 

Nebraska  is  the  last  northern  state  to  keep  the  10  years  age  limit  (in  vacation.) 

The  District  of  Columbia,  Nevada  and  five  territories  have  no  age  limit. 

California,  Delaware,  Iowa,  Kentucky  and  Maryland  have  laws  protecting 
certain  classes  of  children,  but  permit  exemptions  of  an  unusually  wholesale 
character — leaving  the  children  unprotected  in  canneries,  an  industry  in  which 
the  hours  of  labor  inevitably  tend  to  become  irregular  and  exhaustingly  long. 

The  pressure  of  competion  of  the  cotton  mills  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina 
upon  mills  in  northern  states  is  frequently  urged  as  a  reason  for  deferring  much 
needed  legislation  in  such  states,  until  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  effectively 
restrict  the  employment  of  children.  While  the  new  law  enacted  July,  1906, 
removes  Georgia  from  the  black  list  of  states  having  no  protection  whatsoever 
for  working  children,  the  present  laws  of  the  southern  states  will  afford  only  a 
minimum  of  restriction  upon  employment  of  very  young  children,  until  they 
provide  for  factory  inspectors,  truant  officers  and  effective  registration  of  births. 

The  prominence  of  the  District  of  Columbia  as  containing  the  capital  of  the 
nation,  and  the  fact  that  many  children  are  employed  there  as  messengers  and 
in  the  street  trades,  make  it  particularly  desirable  that  the  District  should  speed- 
ily be  removed  from  the  list  of  states,  which  have  no  age  limit  in  the  employment 
of  children. 

Group  I. — Age  Limit  for  Employment,  16  Years 

Illinois— In  mines  and  dangerous  occupations  specified  by  law.     (See  Schedule 

F,    Dangerous    Occupations) 
Montana — In  mines 

Pennsylvania — Inside  anthracite  mines 
Texas — In  any  mine  or  distillery 

4 


Group  II. — Age  Limit  for  Employment,  14  Years 


I.  In  factories, 
stores,  or  in  any 
of  the  following: 
offices,  laundries, 
hotels,  theatres, 
bowling  alleys. 


Illinois 

Iowa  (applies  also  to  slaughter  or  packing-houses;  not 

to  hotels,  theatres,  bowling  alleys) 
Indiana  (applies  also  to  bakeries  and  renovating  works ; 

not  to  hotels,  theatres,  bowling  alleys) 
Kentucky  (applies  to  stores,  laundries,  printing  estab- 
lishments, except  in  vacation) 
Michigan  (does  not  apply  to  theatres) 
New  York  (applies  also  to  apartment  houses) 
Ohio  (applies  also  to  all  "establishments") 
Pennsylvania  (applies  to  all  places  except  those  needing 

domestic,  coal  mining,  or  farm  labor) 
Wisconsin  (except  children  over  twelve  in  vacation ;  for 
exemptions    see    p.   28) 


2.  In  factories  or 
stores. 


r  Connecticut 
Massachusetts  [tion;  for  exemptions   see  p.  27) 

Minnesota  (except  in  mercantile  establishments  in  vaca- 
Nebraska   (except    in  vacation  or   unless   certificate  of 

20  weeks  school  attendance  is  presented) 
Oregon  (except  in  vacation;  for  exemptions  see   p.  27) 
Rhode  Island 

Washington    (for  exemptions  see  p.  28) 
West  Virginia  (during  school  term) 


3.  In  factories. 


Arkansas   (if  illiterate) 

Colorado  (for  exemptions,  see  p.  27) 

Delaware  (except  in  canneries  and  children  of  widows) 

Kansas  (applies  also  to  packing  houses) 

Kentucky  (unless  child  has  no  other  means  of  support) 

Louisiana    (applying  to    girls) 

Maine  (to  15  years  except  in  vacation,  or  unless  certificate 

of  16  weeks'  schooling  is  presented) 
Minnesota 
Missouri 
New  Jersey 
Tennessee 
^  Texas    (if    illiterate) 


4.  In  messenger 
service. 


California 

Illinois 

Kentucky    (except    in   vacation) 

Maryland    (12    years) 

Michigan 

New  York 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Vermont  (12  years  in  vacation;  15  years  during  school 

hours) 
Washington  (15  years  during  school  hours,  unless  school 

requirement  has  been  complied  with) 
Wisconsin  (12  years  in  vacation) 


5.  In  mines. 


Group  II.  (^Continued)— Age  Limit  for  Employment,  14  Years 

Alabama 

Arkansas   (to   16  if  illiterate) 
Colorado 
Idaho 

Illinois  (to  16) 
Indiana 
Iowa 
Kansas 

Kentucky  (unless  child  has  no  other  means  of  support) 
Minnesota 

Missouri  (to  16  if  illiterate) 
Montana  (to  16) 
New  York 

Ohio  (to  15  years  in  school  term) 
Oregon 

Pennsylvania — outside  anthracite  mines 
South  Dakota 
Tennessee 
Texas  (to  16) 
Utah 

Washington 
Wisconsin 
^  Wyoming 

Colorado  (unless  school  requirement  has  been  complied 

with) 
Connecticut 
Illinois 

Massachusetts 

Minnesota   (unless  school  requirement  has  been  com- 
plied with) 
Missouri  (unless  certificate  of  school  attendance  is  pre- 
sented) 
Montana  (unless  studies  enumerated  in  school  law  have 

been  completed;  16  years  if  illiterate) 
New  Hampshire  (to  16  years  if  illiterate) 
New  York 

North  Dakota    (except  when   employed  by  parent   or 

guardian  or  unless   certificate   of  12 

weeks'  school  attendance  is  presented) 

Ohio  (16  years,  unless  studies  enumerated  in  school  law 

have  been  successfully  completed) 
Oregon 
South  Dakota   (unless  certificate  of   12  weeks'  school 

attendance  is  presented) 
Vermont    (to   15   years) 
Wisconsin 

Washington  (to  15  years  unless  school  requirement  has 
been  complied  with) 


6.  In  all  employment 
during  school 
hours. 


Group  III. — Age  Limit  for  Employment,  12  Years 

r  California  (in  vacation  or  if  parent  is  disabled) 

I  Maryland    (applies    also   to    offices,   hotels,    apartment 

I.  In  stores  or  ^  houses,  restaurants  or  other   estabHshments 

factories  1  or   business,    except    in    19    counties    from 

[  West  Virginia  [June  i  to  October  15) 

6 


2.  In  factories. 


Alabama  (except  orphans  and  children  between  lo  and 
12    years    of   widowed   mothers   or   invalid 
Arkansas  (exceptions   same   as   Alabama)  [fathers) 

Georgia  (exceptions  same  as  Alabama) 
Louisiana  (applying  to  boys) 
New  Hampshire 
North  Carolina 
North  Dakota 

South  Carolina  (for  exemptions  see  p. 28) 
Texas  (if  able  to  read  and  write) 
Vermont  (out  of  school  hours  and  in  vacation) 
^  Virginia 


In  mines. 


I.  In  stores  or  fac 
tories. 


Iowa 

Missouri 
I   North  Carolina 
I   North  Dakota 

1  Pennsylvania  (bituminous  mines) 
I   South  Carolina 

Virginia 

West  Virginia 


Group  IV. — Age  for  Employment,  10  Years 

\  Nebraska  (in  vacation) 


2.  In  factories. 


f  Alabama  (orphans  or  children  of  widowed  mothers  or 
•{  Arkansas  (same  as  Alabama)  [disabled  fathers) 

I  Georgia  (same  as  Alabama) 


Group  V. — Miscellaneous  Age  Limitations. 

Florida — Under  15  may  not  be  employed  more  than  60  days  without  consent  of 

legal  guardian 
Mississippi. — Under  21  boys,  under  18  girls,  similar  to  Florida 


Group  VI."  Some  Specific  Exemptions 

California — All  agricultural,  horticultural  or  viticultural  work  in  vacation  or  out 

of  school  hours 
Delaware     All  canneries,  all  places  of  employment  except  factories,  and  applying 

to  all  children  of  widows 
Kentucky — All  handling  of  fruits  and  vegetables  in  season,  delivery  of  tobacco 

at  warehouses  and  preparing  same  for  manufacture 
Maryland — Farm  labor 
Pennsylvania— All  domestic  and  farm  labor 
Rhode  Island — All  agricultural  pursuits 
South  Carolina — Applying  in  June,  July  and  August  to  all  children  who   have 

I  attended  school  four  months  in  the  year;  also  to  all  orphans 

and  children  of  disabled  fathers  or  widowed  mothers 


Group  VII. — No  Age  Limit  Whatsoever 

Arizona  Hawaii 

District  of  Columbia  Indian  Territory 


Nevada 
New  Mexico 


Oklahoma 


SCHEDULE  B— HOURS  OF  LABOR. 

Work  at  Night  Is  Specifically  Prohibited  In  Only  23  States.  One  state,  Ala- 
bama, specifically  authorizes  night  work  for  children  between  thirteen  and  six- 
teen years  of  age  by  restricting  such  night  work  to  forty-eight  hours  in  the  week. 

The  District  of  Columbia  and  28  states  and  territories  fail  to  prohibit  work 
at  night  after  a  definite  closing  hour. 

Six  states  set  an  early  closing  hour  for  children  under  16  years,  Michigan  and 
Oregon  fixing  6p.m.  and  Illinois,  Kentucky,  New  York  and  Ohio  7  p.  m. 

Children  have  no  positive  immunity  from  night  work,  unless  the  hours  are 
explicitly  stated  between  which  it  is  unlawful  to  employ  them.  Observance  of 
laws  forbidding  night  work  is  assured  only  when  a  legal  closing  hour  is  set.  This 
is  especially  true  in  the  messenger  service,  the  glass  industry,  retail  stores  and 
textile  trades  which  employ  children  generally  at  night,  unless  the  closing  hour 
is  definitely  fixed. 

Those  states  which  fail  to  restrict  the  hours  of  labor  allowed  in  one  week  as 
well  as  in  one  day  invite  the  possibility  of  seven  days'  labor.  In  Washington, 
for  example,  women  and  girls  may  not  only  work  ten  hours  at  night,  they  may 
do  this  every  night,  including  Sunday. 

The  District  of  Columbia  and  13  states  and  territories  have  no  time  limit 
whatsoever. 

California,  Delaware,  Iowa,  Kentucky  and  Maryland  exempt  large  numbers 
of  children  from  any  restriction  of  hours  in  canneries  and  fruit  preserving  estab- 
ishments. 


Group  I.— Work  at  Night  Prohibited 

f  Michigan Children  under  16  in  factories. 

From  6  p   m  -7  a   m.  J    Oregon Children  under  16  in  all  gainful  occu- 

j  pations. 

^^  Virginia Children    under    14    in    factories    or 

mines. 

6  p.  M.-6  A.  M.       Texas Children  under  14  in  factories. 

Ohio Girls  under  18,  boys  under  16  in  all 

gainful  occupations. 
Illinois Children  under  16  in  all  gainful  occu- 
pations. 
Minnesota Children  under  16  in  all  gainful  occu- 
pations. 

Kentucky Children    under   16   in   factories   and 

mines. 

New  York Children  under   16  in  factories, 

Massachusetts.  .  .  .Children   under  14  in  all  gainful  occu- 
pations. 

Arkansas Children  under  14  in  factories. 

Georgia Children  under   14  in  factories  after 

January  i,  1908. 

.  Alabama Children  under  13  in  factories, 

8 


7  p.  M.-6  A.  M.   -■ 


7  p.  M.-7  A.  M.      New  York Children     under     i6     in     mercantile 

establishments  in  New  York    City 
and  Buffalo. 

8  p   M  -6  A   M     ^  Rhode  Island . .    .  Children  under  i6  in  factories  or  stores 

i  South  Carolina.  .  .Children  under  12  in  factories. 

8.  p  M.-5  A.  M.      Washington Children  under  16  in  bakeries. 

After  8pm  i  ^l3,ssachusetts Children  under  14  in  the  street  trades. 

I  Vermont Children  under  15  in  factories  or  as 

messengers. 

9  p.  M.-5  A.  M.       Missouri Children  under  16  in  bakeries. 

r  Wisconsin     Children  under  16  in  all  gainful  occu- 

'  pations. 

I   Pennsylvania    .  .  .Children  under  16  in  all  gainful  occu- 
9  p.  M.-6   A.  M.-|  pations    (except   boys   over    14   in 

certain  industries  who    may  work 
L  not  more  than  9  hours  at  night). 

10  p.  M.-7  A.  M.  New  York Children  under  16  in  mercantile  es- 
tablishments except  in  New  York 
City  and  Buffalo. 

After  10  p.  M.  New  York Newsboys  under  14  in  cities  of  the 

first    and   second   class. 

California Children  under  16  in  factories,  stores, 

offices  and  laundries. 
10  p.  M.-6  A.  M.  ^  Massachusetts. . .  .Women  and  minors  in  manufactures. 

Indiana Women  and  girls  in  factories. 

L  Nebraska Women  and  girls  in  factories,  stores, 

hotels  and  restaurants. 


Group  II. — Work  Restricted  by  the  Day  and  by  the  Week 

It  is  restricted  to  a  specified  number  of  hours  in  the  24,  and  to  a  specified 
number  of  hours  in  one  week. 
Hours 

8  in  24     48  in  one  week. .  .  .Illinois Minors  under  16  in  all  gainful 

occupations. 

9  in  24     54  in  one  week . .  .  .Delaware Minors  under  16  in  factories, 

9  in  24     54  in  one  week. .  .  .New  York Minors  under  16    in  commerce 

and  factories. 

9  in  24     54  in  one  week . .  .  .California Minors  under  18  in  stores  and 

factories. 

10  in  24     55  in  one  week . .  .  .New  Jersey Minors  under  16  in  factories. 

10  in  24     55  in  one  week . .  .  .Ohio Minors   under    18   in   factories, 

stores  or  other  establishments. 

10  in  24     58  in  one  week . .  .  .Massachusetts Women   and  minors  under    18 

in  stores  and  factories. 

10  in  24     58  in  one  week Rhode  Island Women  and  minors  under  16  in 

factories. 

in  one  week . .  .  .New  York Women  and  minors  under  18  in 

factories. 

in  one  week  ....  Louisiana Women  and  minors  under  1 8  in 

factories,  dressmaking  or  mil- 

rlinery     establishments,    tele- 
phone or  telegraph  offices. 
10  in  24     60  in  one  week . .  .  .New  Hampshire  .  .Women  and  minors  under  18  in 
factories. 
10  in  24     60  in  one  week . .  .  .Connecticut Women  and  minors  under  16  in 
stores  and  factories. 


10  in  24     60 
10  in  24     60 


Group  II.  (Continued) — Work  Restricted  by  the  Day  and  by  the  Week 

lo  in  24     60  in  one  week  ....  Michigan Boys  under  18,  girls  under  21  in 

stores  and  factories. 

10  in  24     60  in  one  week  . .  .  .Indiana Girls  under  18,  boys  under  16  in 

stores,  factories,  laundries, 
renovating  works,  bakeries, 
printing  offices. 

10  in  24     60  in  one  week  . .  .  .Maine • Girls  under  18,  boys  under  16  in 

factories. 

10  in  24     60  in  one  week . .  .  .Nebraska Women   and   girls  in   factories, 

stores,  hotels  or  restaurants. 
(  Minnesota  ~)  ^,.  .         ^   -        ^^       •    r  \ 

10  in  24     60  in  one  week  . .  \  Wisconsin [  ^^^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^^"^^^^ 

(Oregon )      occupations. 

10  in  24     60  in  one  week.  .     Kentucky   Minors    under    16    in    factories 

and  mines. 

10  in  24     60  in  one  week.  . .  .Arkansas Minors  under  14  in  factories. 

11  in  24     66  in  one  week..  .  .North  Carolina   .  .Minors  under  18  in  factories. 

12  in  24     60  in  one  week.  .  .  .Pennsylvania Women  and  minors  under  16  in 

all  gainful  occupations. 

Group  III. — Work  Restricted  by  the  Day 

It  is  restricted  to  a  specified  number  of  hours  in  the  24,  but  is  not  restricted 
to  a  specified  number  of  hours  in  one  week. 

Hours  r  Arizona 

Colorado 

8  in  24  .A  Montana 


AH  persons  in  mines. 


Missouri 
[  Utah 

8  in  24   ...  .Colorado Minors  under  16  in  factories,  stores 

or  any  occupation  deemed  un- 
healthful  or  dangerous. 

10  in  24   .  .   f  North  Dakota )  Women  and  minors  under   18  in 

I  South  Dakota j      factories. 

10  in  24 Washington Women  and  girls. 

10  in  24 Maryland Children  under  16  in  factories  and 

in  Baltimore  stores. 
10  in  24 Virginia Minors  under   14  in  factories. 

Group  rV. — ^Work  at  Night  Authorized 

It  is  restricted  to  a  specified  number  of  hours  at  night  and  to  a  specified 
number  of  hours  by  day. 

Night  Restriction. 
48  hours  in  one  week    .  .Alabama Children  under  16  in  factories. 

Day  Restriction. 
66  hours  in  one  week    .  .Alabama Children  under  12  in  factories. 


Group  V. — Some  Specific  Exemptions 

California — All  agricultural,  horticultural  or  viticultural  work  in  vacation  or  out 

of  school  hours. 
Delaware — Applying  to  children  of  widowed  mothers,  establishments  for  canning 

vegetables  and  fruits. 
Iowa — All  places  connected  with  canneries,  in  which  r.o  machirer}-  is  cperated. 

10 


Kentucky — ^All  handling  of  fruits  and  vegetables  in  season,  delivery  of  tobacco  at 

warehouses  and  preparing  same  for  manufacture. 
Pennsylvania — All  domestic  and  farm  labor. 
Rhode  Island — All  agricultural  pursuits. 

South  Carolina — ^ Applying  in  June  and  July  and  August  to  all  children  who  have 
attended  school  4  months  in  the  year. 


Group  VI. — No  Closing  Hour  At  Night 


Alaska 

Arizona 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia 

Florida 

Hawaii 

Idaho 

Indian  Territory 

Indiana  (applying  to  boys) 


Iowa 

Kansas 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Mississippi 

Montana 

Nebraska  (applying  to  boys) 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire 


•New  Jersey 

New  Mexico 

North  Carolina 

North  Dakota 

Oklahoma 

South  Dak-ota 

Tennessee 

Utah 

West  Virginia 

Wyoming 


Group  VII. — No  Time  Limit  Whatsoever 

Alaska  Kansas  Oklahoma 

District  of  Columbia  Mississippi  Tennessee 

Florida  Nebraska  (applying  to  boys)  Washington  (applying  to  boys) 

Hawaii  Nevada  West  Virginia 

Idaho  New  Mexico  Wyoming 

Indian  Territory 


SCHEDULE  C— COMPULSORY  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE 

In  Respect  to  Compulsory  Attendance  Laws  the  points  to  be  noted  are: 

1.  The  age  to  which  attendance  is  required  (which  varies  from  sixteen  to 
twelve  years). 

2.  The  length  of  the  annual  period  of  attendance  (which  varies  from  the 
whole  school  year  to  eight  weeks) . 

3.  Officers  and  penalties  for  enforcement  (see  p.  42). 

The  most  effective  means  of  preventing  illegal  employment  of  children  is 
compulsory  school  attendance  throughout  the  entire  period  during  which  employ- 
ment is  prohibited.  Twenty-three  states  now  have  this  requirement.  If  the 
law  prohibits  children  from  working  under  a  certain  age,  it  should  require  them  to 
be  in  school  to  that  age,  during  the  entire  school  term  of  each  year,  not  a  valueless 
period  of  a  few  weeks,  but  eight  months  at  least.  In  states  where  children  under 
the  legal  age  of  employment  are  not  obliged  to  be  in  school  all  the  year,  complica- 
tions in  the  enforcement  of  the  child  labor  law  invariably  arise,  because  it  is 
easy  for  parents  to  send  their  children  to  work  under  the  legal  age. 

Thirteen  states  and  territories  have  no  compulsory  education  laws.  Of 
these  Delaware  is  the  only  remaining  northern  state.  Maryland  permits  chil- 
dren to  leave  school  for  work  at  the  age  of  twelve  years ;  Pennsylvania  and  Rhode. 
Island  at  thirteen. 

Attention  is  asked  to  the  coincidence  between  the  list  of  states  having  no 
attendance  laws  and  those  having  the  largest  number  of  illiterate  children  in  the 
Census  table   on   p.  64. 

Exemptions  from  the  compulsory  education  laws  are  granted  in  many  states 
for  one  or  more  of  the  following  reasons : 

Physical  or  mental  disability. 

Private  instruction. 

Distance  from  school  (over  two  to  three  miles). 

Poverty. 

In  a  few  states  free  clothing  or  other  aids  are  granted  on  account  of  poverty. 

Group  I. — ^Attendance  Compulsory  to  16,  if  Unemployed 

Colorado — Entire  school  year  (exemptions  granted  to  children  over  14  if  "neces- 
sarily employed,"  or  if  they  have  completed  the  eighth  grade; 
illiterates  under  16  must  attend  day  or  night  school,  whether 
employed  or  not). 

Connecticut — Entire  school  year,  36  weeks. 

Maryland — Entire  school  year  (applies  only  to  Baltimore  and  Alleghany  County). 

Massachusetts — Entire  school  year,  at  least  160  days,  if  illiterate. 

Minnesota — Entire  school  year  to  18  years. 

Missouri — Not  less  than  one-half  of  entire  school  year. 

Montana — Entire  school  year  (illiterates  under  16  must  attend  day  school, 
whether  employed  or  not). 

New  Mexico — 12  weeks. 

New  York — Entire  school  year  between  October  and  June. 

Ohio — Entire  school  year. 

Oregon — Entire  school  year. 

Pennsylvania — Entire  school  year  (unless  local  school-board  votes  to  accept  70 
per  cent  of  school  year). 

Wisconsin — Entire  school  year. 

Wyoming — 12  weeks. 


I 


Group  II. — ^Attendance  Compulsory  to  15 

Hawaii 

Kansas — Entire  school  year  (children  over  14  who  can  read  and  write  English 
and  are  "necessarily  employed,"  need   attend   school  only  8  weeks 
annually) . 
Maine — Entire  school  year. 

Michigan — Entire  school  year  (exemptions  may  be  granted  by  Board  of  Edu- 
cation to  children  over  14). 
Nebraska — ^Two-thirds  of  entire  school  year  (exemptions'  may  be  granted  to 
children  over  14  "necessarily  employed."     Attendance  at  night 
school  may  be  required). 
Rhode  Island — Entire  school  year  (if  unemployed) . 
Vermont — 28  weeks  at  least. 
Washington — Entire  school  year. 


Group  III. — ^Attendance  Compulsory  to  14 

Arizona — 12  weeks. 

Arkansas — 12  weeks,  6  to  be  consecutive. 

California — Full  school  year. 

Colorado — Entire  school  year.     (To  16,  unless  employed.) 

Connecticut — Entire  school  year.  Attendance  required  to  16,  if  school  com- 
mittee decides  child  of  14  has  not  sufficient  schooling  to  be 
employed. 

District  of  Columbia — Entire  school  year. 

Idaho — 12  weeks,  8  to  be  consecutive. 

Illinois — Entire  school  year,  at  least  no  days. 

Indiana — Entire  school  year. 

Iowa — 16  weeks. 

Kentucky — Entire  school  year,  at  least  5  months. 

Massachusetts — Entire  school  year  (to  16,  unless  employed). 

Minnesota — Entire  school  year  (to  16,  if  unemployed;  exemptions  may  be  grant- 
ed to  children  "necessarily  employed"). 

Missouri — Not  less  than  one-half  of  entire  school  year. 

Montana — Entire  school  year,  at  least  16  weeks  (to  16,  unless  employed). 

Nevada — 16  weeks,  at  least  8  to  be  consecutive. 

New  Hampshire — Entire  school  year  (to  16,  if  illiterate). 

New  Jersey — Entire  school  year. 

New  Mexico — 12  weeks  (to  16,  unless  employed). 

New  York — Entire  school  year  (between  October  and  June.     To  16  unless  em- 
ployed). 

North  Dakota — Entire  school  year   (exemptions  may  be  granted  to  children 
necessarily  employed  ") . 

Ohio — Entire  school  year,  not  less  than  32  weeks.     (To  16,  unless  employed.) 

Oregon — Entire  school  year. 
-rSouth  Dakota — 12  weeks. 

Utah — 20  weeks. 

West  Virginia — Entire  school  year,  20  weeks. 

Wisconsin — Entire  school  year,  8  months  (to  16,  if  not  employed). 


Group  IV. — Attendance  Compulsory  to  13 

Pennsylvania — Entire  school  year  (to  16,  unless  employed) . 
Rhode  Island — Entire  school  year  (to  15,  unless  employed) . 

13 


Group  V. — Attendance  Compulsory  to  12 

Maryland — Entire  school  year  (to  16,  unless  employed;  applies  only  to  city 
of  Baltimore  and  Alleghany  County) . 

*Group  VI. — No  Attendance  Laws 

Alabama  Louisiana  South  Carolina 

Alaska  Mississippi  Tennessee 

Delaware.  North  Carolina  Texas 

Florida  —Oklahoma  Virginia 
Georgia 


SCHEDULE  D— EDUCATIONAL  REQUIREMENT  FOR 
EMPLOYMENT 

An  Educational  Requirement  before  children  can  be  legally  employed  is  found 
in  states  having  the  most  advanced  child-labor  legislation.  This  requirement 
consists  of  the  completion  of  a  specified  curriculum,  ability  to  read  and  write, 
(English  not  always  specified)  and  a  certain  amount  of  school  attendance. 

Two  states,  New  York  and  Oregon,  require  to  a  certain  age,  proof  of 
the  completion  of  a  specified  curriculum  before  employment.  This  require- 
ment is  particularly  valuable  in  securing  immunity  from  labor  and  the  privi- 
lege of  school  attendance  for  ilUterate  immigrant  children.  In  New  York 
and  Oregon  children  of  14  years  may  not  work,  even  though  able  to  furnish  proof 
of  age,  unless  they  have  had  a  fixed  minimum  of  education,  as  proved  by  their 
signed  school  record.  In  New  York  the  amount  of  school  work  required  is  that 
done  by  the  normal  child  by  the  end  of  its  twelfth  year,  if  regular  in  attendance 
and  promotion.  In  Pennsylvania,  signed  proof  of  the  completion  of  the  curricu- 
lum was  required  of  children  unable  to  furnish  documentary  proof  of  age  by 
the  law  of  1905,  but  the  requirement  is  now  void  since  it  was  declared  unconsti- 
tutional February,  1906. 

Three  other  states,  Ohio,  Montana  and  Washington,  also  require  completion 
of  a  curriculum  before  employment,  but  fail  to  require  definite  signed  proof  of 
compliance  with  the  requirement. 

Thirteen  states  require  school  attendance  for  a  specified  length  of  time 
before  employment. 

Fifteen  states  prohibit  outright  the  employment  of  children  who  cannot 
read  and  write  English. 

Massachusetts  requires  children  to  read  at  sight  and  write  intelligibly 
simple  sentences  in  English,  enough  for  admission  to  the  third  grade  in  1907 
and  fourth  grade  in  1908. 

Connecticut,  Georgia  and  Illinois  do  not  specify  in  what  language  children 
must  be  able  to  read  and  write.  Michigan  requires  English  only  if  children  have 
been  in  the  United  States  over  3  years. 

Seven  states  (California,  Colorado,  Connecticut,  Illinois,  Maryland,  Minne- 
sota and  New  Hampshire)  accept  night  school  in  lieu  of  day  school  attendance. 
For  children  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  this  is  an  injurious  requirement, 
detrimental  alike  to  health  and  education. 

The  District  of  Columbia  and  22  states  and  territories  have  no  educational 
requirement  for  children  seeking  employment. 

*  See  p.  64.     Compare  states  having  largest  number  of  illiterate  children. 

14 


I 


Group  I.  -  Children  May  Not  Be  Employed  Unless  They  Have  Completed  a  Specified 

Curriculum 

A.     Requirement  of  School  Record  Signed  by  Authorities  of  School  Attended 
by  Child. 

New  York — Required  under   i6   years,   school  record  signed  by  principal  or 
chief  executive  officer* of  school  attended,  certifying  that  child 
has  received  during  the  required  period  of  attendance,  instruc- 
tion in  reading,  spelling,  writing,  English  grammar,  geography 
and   arithmetic  up  to  and  including  fractions. 
Oregon — Required  under  i6  years,  school  record  signed  by  superintendent  of 
schools  or  by  a  person  authorized  by  him  in  writing,  or  where  there 
is  no  superintendent  of   schools,  by  a  person  authorized  by  board 
of  school  directors ;  provided  that  no  member  of  a  board  of  school 
directors  or  other  person  authorized  as  aforesaid  shall  have  authority 
to  approve  certificate  for  any  child  then  in  or  about  to  enter  his 
own    employment,   or    employment    of   a    firm    or    corporation  of 
which  he  is  a  member,  officer  or  employee.     School  record  certi- 
fying that  child    has  received  instruction    in  subjects    same  as  in 
New  York  (see  above). 


B. — Requirement  of  "Satisfactory  Proof"  (Neither  Signed  nor  Specified) 

Montana — Required   under    i6   years,    "satisfactory   proof"    given   to   person 
authorized   to   issue   age   and   school   certificate,   that    child   has 
successfully   completed   required   studies,   viz.,   reading,   spelling, 
writing,   English  grammar,  geography,  physiology  and  hygiene, 
and  arithmetic. 
Ohio — Required  under  i6  years,  same  as  in  Montana  (see  above). 
Washington — Required  under  15  years,  for  employment  in  school  term,  cer- 
tificate made  by  or  under  direction  of  the  board  of  school  di- 
rectors,  stating  that   child  has   "attained  a  reasonable  profi- 
ciency in  the  common  school  branches  for  the  first  8  years  as 
outlined  in  the  course  of  study  in  the  common  schools  in  the 
State  of  Washington." 


Group  II. — Children  May  Not  Be  Employed  Unless  They  Have  Attended  School  for 
a  Specified  Time  Before  Employment. 

Delaware — Required   under    16   years,   certificate  signed  by  teacher  or  teach- 
ers of  such  child,  that  child  has   attended,  within   12  months    im- 
mediately preceding  such  employment,  some  public  day  or  night 
school,   or   some  well   recognized  school;  such  attendance  having 
been  5   days  or  evenings  every  week  during  a  period  of  at  least  1 2 
consecutive  weeks,  which  may  be  divided  into  two  terms  of  6 
consecutive  weeks  if  arrangement  of  school  term  will  permit. 
Georgia — Required  under  18  years,  affidavit  of  parent  or  guardian,  certifying 
that  child  has  attended  school  12  weeks  of  preceding  year,    6   of 
which  shall  be  consecutive;  under  14  years,  same    school    atten- 
dance required,  12  weeks  to  be  consecutive. 
Louisiana — Required  under  14  years,  certificate  of  attendance  at  some    schoo 
where  instruction  was  given  by  a  teacher  qualified  to  instruct 
in  such  branches  as  are  usually  taught  in  primary  schools,  at 
least  4  months  of  the  1 2  months  next  preceding  the  month  in 
which  child  is  employed. 

IS 


Group  II.  (Continued) — Children  May  Not  Be  Employed  Unless  They  Have  Attended 
School  for  a  Specified  Time  Before  Employment 

Maine — Required  under  15  years,  for  employment  in  school  term,  certificate 
made  by  or  under  the  direction   of   school   committee   or   superin- 
tendent of  pubHc  schools,  stating  that  during  the  year  next   pre- 
ceding time   of   employment,    child    attended    public    or    private 
school  for  at  least  16  weeks,  8  of  which  were  consecutive. 
Minnesota — Required  under  16  years,  statement  in  age  certificate  that  child 
has,  in  year  next  preceding  the  issuing  of  said  certificate,  attend- 
ed school  at  least  12  weeks,  6  of  which  were  consecutive. 
Missouri — Required  under  14  years,  for  employment  in  school  hours,  certifi- 
cate from  superintendent  or  teacher  of  school  last  attended,  stat- 
ing that  child  attended  not  less  than  one-half  entire  time  school 
was  in  session. 
Nebraska — Required  under  14  years,  for  employment  in  school  term,  certifi- 
cate signed  by  president  and  secretary  of  school  district  in  which 
child  resides,  stating  that  in  year  next  preceding  such  employm.ent, 
child  attended  some  public  or  private  school  where  English  lan- 
guage was  taught. 
New  York — Required  under  16  years,  statement  in  school  record,  that  child 
has  regularly  attended  public  schools  or  schools  equivalent  there- 
to, or  parochial  schools,  for  not  less  than  130  days,  during  school 
year  previous  to  his  arriving  at  age  of  14  years,  or  during  year 
previous  to  his  applying  for  such  school  record. 
North  Dakota — Required  under  14  years,  certificate  from  superintendent  of 
schools  or  from  clerk  of  school  board  stating  that  child  has  at- 
tended school  for  12  weeks  during  the  year  as  required. 
Oregon — Required  tmder  16  years,  statement  in  school  record,  certifying  that 
child  has  regularly  attended  public  schools  or   school   equivalent 
thereto,  for  not  less  than  160  days  during  school   year   previous 
to  arriving  at  age  of  14  years,  or  during  year  previous  to  applying 
for  such  record. 
South  Dakota — Required  under  14  years,  for  employment  during  school  term, 
certificate  from  superintendent  of  schools  or  clerk  of  school 
board  stating  that  child  has  attended  school  for  a   period 
of  12   weeks  during  the  year  as  required. 
Vermont — Required  ilnder  16  years,  certificate  signed  by  teacher  of  a  public 
school,  or  by  superintendent  of  schools  for  a  private  school,  stat- 
ing that  child  attended  28  weeks  during  current  year. 
Washington — Required  under  15  years  (except  in  vacation)  statement  in  school 
certificate  that  child  has  in  the  1 2  months  next  preceding  em- 
ployment, attended  school  entire  school  year. 


Group  III. — Children  May  Not  Be  Employed  Unless  They  Attend  School  During 

Employment 

Arkansas — Required  to  14  years,  for  employment  in  school  term,  12  weeks  during 

tne  year. 

Maine — ^To  15  years,  for  employment  in  school  term,  16  weeks  during  the  year. 

Nebraska — ^To  14  years,  for  employment  in  school  term,  20  weeks  during  the  year. 

New  York — Boys  between  14  and  16  employed  in  New  York  City  and  Buffalo 

must  show  certificate  of  graduation  from  elementary  school  or 

must  attend  night  school  6  hours  a  week  during  16  weeks. 

16 


Group  IV. — Children  May  Not  Be  Employed  Unless  They  Can  Read  and  Write 

English. 

Arkansas — Required  to  i6  years  (for  employment  in  mines). 

Georgia — To  14  years  (after  January  i,  1908;  English  language  not  specified). 

Indiana — To  16  years  (unless  blind,  and  except  for  employment  in  vacation). 

Michigan — To  16  years  (English  language  not  required,  unless  child  has  been  3 
years  in  United  States,  before  employment). 

Massachusetts — To  16  years,  (except  Saturdays  in  stores  between  7  a.  m.  and 
6  p.  m.  for  minors  between  14  and  16  years).  Ability  re- 
quired sufficient  to  enter  third  grade  in  1907,  and  fourth 
grade  in  1908. 

Minnesota — To  16  years. 

Missouri — ^To  16  years  (for  employment  in  mines). 

Montana — To  16  years  (for  employment  during  school  hours). 

New  York — To  16  years. 

Ohio — To  16  years. 

Oregon — To  16  years. 

Pennsylvania— To  16  years. 

South  Carolina — Children  may  be  employed  at  any  age,  in  vacation,  if  they  pre- 
sent certificates  showing  school  attendance  for  4  months 
during  the  year,  and  ability  to  read  and  write. 

Texas — To  16  years  (exemptions  granted  to  children  between  12  and  16  years 
on  account  of  poverty. 

Washington — To  15  years. 

Group  v.— Children  Who  Cannot  Read  and  Write  English  May  Not  Be  Em- 
ployed Unless  They  Attend  Day  or  Night  School  During  Employment 

California — Required  to  16  years,  for  employment  during  school  hours. 

Colorado — To  16  years. 

Connecticut — To  16  years  (English  language  not  specified). 

Illinois— To  16  years  (English  language  not  specified).  Illiterates  under  16  may 
not  be  employed  at  all,  in  any  town  or  city  where  there  are  no  even- 
ing schools,  or  while  evening  schools  are  not  in  session. 

Maryland — To  16  years. 

Minnesota — To  16  years  (except  in  vacation). 

New  Hampshire — To  21  years. 

Ohio— To  16  years. 


Group  VI. — No  Educational  Requirement 

Alabama  Idaho  New  Jersey  Utah 

Alaska  Iowa  New  Mexico  Virginia 

Arizona  Kansas  North  Carolina  West  Virginia 

District  of  Columbia  Kentucky  Oklahoma  Wisconsin 

Florida  Mississippi  Rhode  Island  Wyoming 

Hawaii  Nevada  Tennessee 


SCHEDULE  E— WORKING  PAPERS;  CERTIFICATES  OF  AGE 

AND  SCHOOLING 

Working  papers  are  issued  in  the  different  states  by  diverse  authorities: 
school  officials,  health  officers,  factory  inspectors  or  judges. 

Of  the  1 8  states  which  require  documentary  proof  of  age,  14  give  the  issuance 
of  papers  to  school  authorities.  In  New  York  working  papers  are  issued  by  the 
health  boards. 

Since  the  New  York  law  includes  in  its  requirements  the  best  minimum  of 
education,  physical  ability,  and  satisfactory  proof  of  age,  the  New  York  pro- 
visions concerning  employment  certificates  are  given  in  detail. 

The  importance  of  obtaining  proof  of  age  is  ignored  in  the  13  states  which 
accept  the  affidavit  of  parent  or  guardian,  unsupported  by  further  proof.  This 
is  worthless  as  a  proof  of  age  and  places  a  premium  on  perjury.  School  records 
are  valuable  for  additional  verification  of  age,  but  the  most  reliable  sources  of 
information  are  transcripts  of  birth  certificates,  certificates  of  baptism  or  pass- 
ports. 

In   Pennsylvania  documentary   proof  of  age  was   required  by   the   law  of 

1905,  but  since  this  section  of  the  law  was  declared  unconstitutional,  February, 

1906,  the  affidavit  of  parent  or  guardian  is  accepted. 

The  District  of  Columbia  and  2 1  states  and  territories  require  no  proof  of  age. 

In  ten  states,  Delaware,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  New 
Jersey,  New  York,  Ohio,  Oregon  and  Wisconsin,  the  factory  inspectors  may 
demand  a  certificate  of  physical  fitness  from  some  regular  or  county  physician 
in  the  case  of  young  persons  who  may  seem  physically  unable  to  perform  the 
labor  at  which  they  may  be  employed,  and  shall  have  the  power  to  prohibit  the 
employment  of  any  minor  that  cannot  obtain  such  a  certificate.  In  New  York 
and  Ohio,  the  physical  fitness  of  a  child  apparently  14  years  old  is  determined 
by  a  medical  officer  of  the  board  or  department  of  health. 

Group  I. — Documentary  Proof  of  Age  Required 

California — Required  between  14  and  16,  age  and  schooling  certificate  approved 
only  by  superintendent  of  schools  of  city  or  county  or  by  a  person 
authorized  by  him,  or  by  local  school  trustees.     This  certificate 
not  to  be  approved  unless  satisfactory  evidence  is  furnished  by 
last  school  census,  certificate  of  birth  or  baptism  of  such  child  or 
public  register  of  birth  or  in  some  other  manner,  that  child  is  of 
age  stated.     A  duplicate  of  each  age  and  schooling  certificate 
granted   to  be  filed   with  the  county  superintendent  of  schools. 
Certificate  as  to  birthplace  and  age  of  child  to  be  signed  by  parent 
or  guardian,  or  if  not  living,  by  child  himself.     All  employers  of 
minors  between  14  and  16  must  keep  record  of  names,  ag      and 
residences  of  such  minors. 
Connecticut — Required  between  14  and  16,  certificate  of  age,  signed  by  town  clerk 
of  town  where  child  was  bom  or  by  a  teacher  of  school  which 
child  last  attended,  or  by  person  having  custody  of  register  of 
said  school.     If  child  was  not  bom  in  the  United  States,  state 
board  of  education  may  investigate,  and  if  child  appears  to  be 
over  14  years  may  grant  certificate  as  evidence  of  age.     Parent 
or  guardian  of  child  shall  state  under  oath  to  secretary  or  agent 
of  state  board  of  education  date  of  birth  of  child,  and  shall 
present  any  family  record,  passport  or  other  documentary  evi- 
dence which  board  may  require  to  show  age  of  child. 
18 


Illinois — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  age  and  school  certificate,  approved 
by  superintendent  of  schools  or  by  a  person  authorized  by  him  in 
writing. 
An  age  and  school  certificate  not  to  be  approved  unless  satisfactory 
evidence  is  furnished  by  last  school  census,  certificate  of  birth  or 
baptism  of  such  child,  register  of  birth  of  such  child  with  a  town  or 
city  clerk,  or  by  records  of  public  or  parochial  schools,  that  such 
child  is  of  the  age  stated  in  certificate:  Provided,  That  in  cases  aris- 
ing wherein  above  proof  is  not  obtainable,  parent  or  guardian  of 
child  shall  make  oath  before  the  juvenile  or  county  court  as  to  age 
of  such  child,  and  court  may  issue  to  such  child  an  age  certificate 
as  sworn  to. 
The  age  and  school  certificate  of  a  child  under  16  years  of  age  not  to 
be  approved  and  signed  until  he  presents  to  person  authorized  to 
approve  and  sign  same,  a  school  attendance  certificate,  as  prescribed, 
duly  filled  out  and  signed.  A  duplicate  of  such  age  and  school 
certificate  to  be  filled  out  and  to  be  forwarded  to  state  factory 
inspector's  ofhce.  The  employment  and  age  and  school  certificates 
to  be  separately  printed  and  filled  out,  signed  and  held  or  surrendered 
as  indicated  in  prescribed  forms.  Register  must  be  kept  recording 
name,  age  and  place  of  residence. 

Kansas — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  certificate  of  age  signed  by  mem- 
bers of  school  board,  principal  or  teacher  in  district  where  child  re- 
sides. When  impossible  to  obtain  such  certificate,  sworn  statement 
of  parent  or  guardian  required. 

Maine — Required  under   16,   certificate  of  age  and  place  of  birth  signed  by 
school  authorities;  for  children  under  15,  in  addition,  certificate  of 
amount  of  school  attendance  during  year  preceding  employment   (16 
weeks  required). 
Maryland — Required  under  16,  employment-permit  issued  in  Baltimore  City 
by  Bureau  of  Statistics  and  in  other  cities  or  counties  by  any 
member  of  board  of  health  or  principal  health  officer.     Employ- 
ment permit  not  to  be  issued  unless  satisfactory  evidence  is  fur- 
nished by  duly  attested  transcript  of  certificate  of  birth  or  baptism 
of  child,  or  other  rehgious  record,  or  register  of  birth,  or  affidavit 
of  parent   or  guardian.     Affidavit  to  be  required  only  in   case 
proper  authorities  certify  that  birth  certificate  is  not  on  record. 
Massachusetts — Required   under    16,    age   and   schooling   certificate   approved 
by  superintendent  of  schools  or  by  a  person  authorized  in 
writing   by   him    or   by   school    committee.     Employers   to 
keep  two  complete  lists  of  all  minors  employed  under   16, 
one  on  file  and  one  conspicuously  posted  near  principal  en- 
trance of  building  in  which  such  children  are  employed,  and 
also  keep  on  file  and  send  to  superintendent  of  schools  or' to 
school  committee,  a  complete  list  of  names  of  all  minors  em- 
ployed who  cannot  read  at  sight  or  write  legibly  simple  sen- 
tences in  the  English  language. 
An  age  and  schooling  certificate  not  to  be  approved  unless  satis- 
factory evidence  is  furnished  by  last  school  census,  certifi- 
cate of  birth  or  baptism  of  such  minor,  or  register  of  birth 
of  such  minor  with  a  city  or  town  clerk,  that  such  minor  is  of 
age  stated  in  certificate,  except  that  other  evidence  under 
oath  may  be  accepted  in  case  superintendent  or  person  author- 
ized by  school  committee,  decides  that  neither  last  school 
census,  nor  certificate  of  birth  or  baptism,  nor  register  of 
birth  is  available  for  the  purpose.     The  age  and  schooling 
certificate  of  a  minor  under  16  years  of  age  not  to  be  ap- 

19 


Massachusetts — (Continued) 

proved  and  signed  until  he  presents  to  the  person  authorized 
to  approve  and  sign  it  an  employment  ticket  duly  filled  out 
and  signed.  A  duplicate  of  each  age  and  schooling  certificate 
to  be  filled  out  and  kept  on  file  by  school  committee.  The 
employment  ticket  and  age  and  schooling  certificate  to  be 
separately  printed,  filled  out,  signed  and  held  or  surrendered, 
as  indicated  in  forms  prescribed. 
No  certificate  to  be  approved  by  any  person  for  a  minor  under 
1 6  years  of  age,  who  intends  to  be  employed  in  a  factory, 
workshop,  or  mercantile  establishment,  unless  such  person  is 
satisfied  that  minor  is  able  to  read  at  sight  and  write  legibly 
simple  sentences  in  English — in  1907  as  is  required  for 
admission  to  third  grade,  in  1908  as  is  required  for 
admission  to  fourth  grade. 

Minnesota — Required  under  16,  employment  certificate  signed  by  superintendent 
of  schools  or  by  some  person  authorized  by  him  or  by  school 
committee.  Said  certificate  to  contain  a  statement  of  name, 
birthplace,  date  of  birth  and  age  of  child  at  date  of  statement. 
This  statement  to  be  signed  and  acknowledged  under  oath  or 
affirmation  before  the  person  authorized  to  issue  certificate. 
Certificate  also  to  contain  a  statement  or  certificate  by  officer 
issuing  same  that  child  can  read  at  sight  and  write  legibly  simple 
sentences  in  the  English  language,  or  that  said  child,  if  unable 
so  to  read  and  write,  is  regularly  attending  a  day  or  evening 
school,  or  has  been  excused  by  school  board,  and  that  if  under  the 
age  required  by  law  for  attendance  of  all  children  at  school,  said 
child  has  in  the  year  next  preceding  issuing  of  said  certifi- 
cate attended  school  as  required  by  law.  The  statement  in 
certificate  giving  birthplace  and  age  of  child  shall  be  signed  by 
father  if  living,  or  by  mother,  or  by  child  himself. 

Montana — Required  under  16,  certificate  approved  by  superintendent  of  schools 
or  by  a  person  authorized  by  him,  upon  receiving  satisfactory 
proof  of  age  and  of  the  completion  of  required  studies. 

Missouri — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  when  reasonable  doubt  exists 
as  to  age,  a  properly  attested  birth  certificate  or  an  affidavit  stat- 
ing such  child's  age  and  date  of  birth  and  physical  characteristics, 
to  be  furnished  on  demand  of  truant  officers. 

Nebraska — Required  under  16,  certificate  stating  age,  place  of  birth  and  resi- 
dence; for  children  under   14,  in   addition,  certificate  of  school 
attendance  during  year  next  preceding  employment,  signed  by 
president  and  secretary  of  school  board  of  child's  school  district. 
New  Jersey — Required  under  16:  I.  Native  bom.  Affidavit  of  parent  or  guardian 
stating  name  of  child,  residence,  place  and  date  of  birth,  name 
of  father  and  maiden  name  of  mother,  church  attended,  if  any, 
school  last  attended,  if  child  was  baptized,  name  and  location 
of   church  where  baptized.     There  must    accompany  affidavit 
transcript  of  record  of  child's  birth,  or  if  it  cannot  be  obtained, 
and  child  was  baptized,  a  certified  copy  of  baptismal  record. 
II.  Foreign  bom  children.     Same  affidavit  as  above,  with  an 
additional  statement  that  child  named  in  affidavit  is  the  same 
mentioned  and  described  in  passport  under  which  child  was 
admitted  to  this  country.     A  true  copy  of  passport  must  in  all 
cases   be   attached   to    affidavit.     III.    Other   children.     Com- 
missioner of  labor  shall  have  power  to  issue  permits  of  employ- 
ment to  children  upon  the  production  of  evidence  of  the  child's 
ao 


age  satisfactory  to  him;  provided,  that  he  shall  first  be  satisfied 
that  child  cannot  obtain  a  transcript  of  birth  record,  a  baptismal 
certificate  or  passport. 

New  York — Required  under  i6,  employment  certificate  issued  by  the  com- 
missioner of  health  or  executive  officer  of  board  or  department 
of  health  of  city,  town  or  village  where  such  child  resides  or  is 
to  be  employed,  or  by  such  other  officer  thereof  as  may  be  desig- 
nated by  such  board,  department  or  commissioner  for  that  pur- 
pose, upon  application  of  parent,  guardian  or  custodian  of  child 
desiring  such  employment. 

Such  officer  shall  not  issue  certificate  until  he  has  received,  ex- 
amined, approved  and  filed  the  following  papers  duly  executed: 
(i)  The  school  record  of  child  properly  filled  out  and  signed  as 
provided  in  this  article.  (2)  A  passport  or  duly  attested  trans- 
script  of  certificate  of  birth,  or  baptism  or  other  religious  record, 
showing  date  and  place  of  birth  of  child.  A  duly  attested  tran- 
script of  birth  certificate  filed  according  to  law  with  a  registrar 
of  vital  statistics,  or  other  officer  charged  with  the  duty  of  re- 
cording births  shall  be  conclusive  evidence  of  age  of  child.  (3) 
The  affidavit  of  parent,  guardian  or  custodian  of  child,  which 
shall  be  required,  however,  only  in  case  last  mentioned  tran- 
script of  certificate  of  birth  be  not  produced  and  filed,  showing 
place  and  date  of  birth  of  child;  which  affidavit  must  be  taken 
before  the  officer  issuing  employment  certificate,  who  is  hereby 
authorized  and  required  to  administer  such  oaths  and  who  shall 
not  demand  or  receive  a  fee  therefor. 

In  case  it  appears  to  the  satisfaction  of  officer  to  whom  appli- 
cation is  made,  as  herein  provided,  for  an  employment  certificate, 
that  a  child  for  whom  certificate  is  requested  and  who  has  pre- 
sented school  record  and  affidavit  above  provided  for,  is  in  fact 
over  14  years  of  age  and  that  satisfactory  documentary  evidence 
of  such  age  can  be  produced  which  does  not  fall  within  any  of  the 
provisions  of  this  section,  and  that  none  of  the  papers  men- 
tioned, exists  or  can  be  produced,  then  and  not  otherwise  he  shall 
present  to  board  of  health  of  which  he  is  an  officer,  or  agent,  for 
its  action  thereon,  a  statement  signed  by  him  showing  such  facts, 
together  with  such  affidavits  or  papers  as  may  have  been  pro- 
duced before  him  constituting  such  evidence  of  the  age  of  child, 
and  board  of  health,  at  a  regular  meeting  thereof,  may  then,  in 
its  discretion,  by  resolution,  provide  that  such  evidence  of  age 
be  fully  entered  on  the  minutes  of  board  and  be  received  in  place 
of  the  papers  specified  and  required  by  this  section, 

On  due  proof,  that  a  child  who  is  a  graduate  of  a  public  school  of 
the  State  of  New  York  or  elsewhere,  having  a  course  of  not  less 
than  eight  years,  or  of  a  school  in  the  State  of  New  York  other 
than  a  public  school,  having  a  substantially  equivalent  course 
of  study  of  not  less  than  eight  years'  duration,  and  in  which  a 
record  of  attendance  of  child  has  been  kept  as  required  by  com- 
pulsory education  law,  and  who  produces  and  files  a  certificate 
of  graduation  duly  issued  to  him  therefrom,  and  who  is  recorded 
in  the  school  records  as  14  years  of  age,  is  unable  to  further 
produce  evidence  of  age  required  by  this  article,  the  board  may. 
by  resolution,  permit  issuance  to  such  child  of  an  employment 
certificate  and  dispense  with  evidence  of  age  as  is  provided. 

Such  employment  certificate  not  to  be  issued  until  child  has  per- 
sonally appeared  before  and  been  examined  by  officer  issuing 
certificate,  and  until  such  officer,  after  making  examination,  signs 

91 


New  York  (Continued) 

and  files  in  his  office  a  statement  that  the  child  can  read  and 
legibly  write  simple  sentences  in  the  English  language  and  that 
in  his  opinion  the  child  is  14  years  of  age  or  upwards,  and  has 
reached  the  normal  development  of  a  child  of  its  age,  and  is  in 
sound  health  and  is  physically  able  to  perform  the  work  which  it 
intends  to  do.     In  doubtful  cases  physical  fitness  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  a  medical  officer  of  board  or  department  of  health. 
Every  such  employment  certificate  to  be  signed,  in  the  presence 
of  the  officer  issuing  same,  by  child  in  whose  name  it  is  issued. 
The  school  record  to  be  signed  by  principal  or  chief  executive  officer 
of  school  which  child  has  attended  and  to  be  furnished  on  demand 
to   a   child   entitled  thereto   or  to   board,  department   or   com- 
missioner of  health. 
The  commissioner  of  labor  may  make  demand  on  an  employer  in 
whose  factory  a  child  apparently  under   16  years  is  employed 
or  permitted  or  suffered  to  work,  and  whose  employment  certi- 
ficate is  not  then  filed  as  required,  that  such  employer  shall 
either  furnish  him  within  ten  days,  evidence  satisfactory  to  him 
that  such  child  is  in  fact  over  16  years  of  age,  or  shall  cease  to 
employ  or  permit  or  suffer  such  child  to  work  in  such  factory. 
The   commissioner  of   labor  may   require   from   such   employer 
same  evidence  of  age  of  child  as  is  required  on  issuance  of  em- 
ployment certificate. 
Ohio — Required  between   14  and  16  years,  age  and  schooling  certificate,  ap- 
proved only  by  superintendent  of  schools  or  by  a  person  authorized 
by  him,  or  by  clerk  of  board  of  education.     This  certificate  not  to 
be  approved  unless"  satisfactory  evidence  of  age  is  furnished  by  last 
school  census,  certificate  of  birth  or  baptism,  or  in  some  other  manner, 
that  said  child  is  of  age  required,  and  that  he  has  successfully  com- 
pleted studies  required  in  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Ohio,  or  can  read 
and  write  legibly  the  English  language. 
Oregon — Required  between    14   and    16   years,   age   and   schooling   certificate 
executed,  issued,  and  approved  only  by  superintendent  of  schools, 
or  by  a  person  authorized  by  him  in  writing,  or  by  board  of  school 
directors.     This  certificate  not  to  be  approved  unless  satisfactory 
evidence  is  furnished  by  last  school  census,  duly  attested  transcript 
of  certificate  of  birth  or  baptism  or  other  religious  record  or  register 
of  birth  of  such  child,  that  child  is  of  the  age  stated. 
This  certificate  not  to  be  approved  and  signed  unless  child  presents 
to  person   authorized  to  sign  same  an  employment  ticket  issued 
by  the  board  of  child  labor  inspectors,  duly  filled  out  and  signed 
as  prescribed.     The  certificate  shall  contain  a  statement  certifying 
that  the  child  can  read  at  sight  and  write  legibly  simple  sentences  in 
the  English  language,  that  it  has  reached  the  normal  development  of 
a  child  of  its  age,  and  is  in  sound  health  and  is  physically  able  to 
perform  the  work  which  it  intends  to  do,  and  that  it  has  regularly 
attended  public  schools  or  a  school  equivalent  thereto,  for  not  less 
than  160  days  during  school  year  previous  to  arriving  at  age  of  14 
years,  or  during  the  year  previous  to  applying  for  such  school  record, 
and  has  received  during  such  period  instruction  in  reading,  spelling, 
writing,  English  grammar  and  geography,  and  is  familiar  with  the 
fundamental  operations  of  arithmetic  to  and  including  fractions. 

Rhode  Island — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  certificate  given  by  or  under 
the  direction  of  school  committee  of  city  or  town  in  which 
child  resides,  certifying  that  child  has  completed  14  years  of 
age,  and  stating  name,  date  and  place  of  birth  of  child,  sub- 


stantiated  by   a   duly   attested   copy  of  birth   certificate   or 
baptismal  certificate,  stating  also  name  and  residence  of  the 
person  having  control  of  such  child. 
Washington — Required  under  15  years  for  employment  in  school  term,  certificate 
given  by  superintendent   of  schools,   excusing  child  from   at- 
tendance at  school  and  setting  forth  reason  for  such  excuse, 
residence  and  age  of  the  child,  and  time  for  which  such  excuse 
is  given. 
Wisconsin — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  written  permit  issued  by  com- 
missioner of  labor,  state  factory  inspector,  any  assistant  factory 
inspector  or  by  judge  of  the  county  court  or  municipal  court  or 
by  judge  of  a  juvenile  court  where  such  child  resides.     When 
any   doubt   exists   concerning   age   of   child,   verified  baptismal 
certificate  to  be  produced,  or  duly  attested  birth  certificate,  or  in 
case  such  certificate  cannot  be  secured,  record  of  age  stated  in 
first  school  enrollment  of  such  child.     If  such  proof  does  not 
exist,  or  cannot  be  secured,  such  other  proof  to  be  produced  as 
may  be  satisfactory  to  person  issuing  permit.     Employers  must 
keep  register  giving  name,  age,  date  of  birth  and  place  of  residence , 

Group  II. — ^Affidavit  or  Statement  of  Parent  or  Child  as  Proof  of  Age 

Alabama — Required  over  12,  affidavit  of  parent  or  guardian,  stating  age  and 

date  of  birth. 
Arkansas — Same  as  Alabama;  for  children  under  14,  in  addition,  certificate  of 

school  attendance. 
Delaware — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  sworn  statement  of  parent  or 
guardian,  stating  name,  date  and  place  of  birth  of  child;  also 
certificate  stating  names  of  parents  or  guardians,  name  and  num- 
ber of  school  last  attended  by  child,  and  number  of  weeks  in  at- 
tendance, such  certificate  to  be  signed  by  teacher  or  teachers  of 
child;  provided,  that  in  case  the  age  of  child  be  not  known,  such 
teacher  shall  certify  that  age^given  is  the  true  age  to^the  best  of 
his  or  her  knowledge. 
Georgia — Same  as  Alabama;  also  for  children  between   10   and  12  of  an  aged 
or  disabled  father,  certificate  from  the  ordinary  of    the   county, 
certifying  to  facts  required;  no'^ordinary  to  issue  certificate  except 
on  strict  proof  in  writing  and  under  oath,  and  no  certificate  to  be 
granted  for  longer  than  one  year,  or  accepted  after  one  year  from 
date  of  certificate,  by  employer.  .         •   ^ 

Indiana — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  affidavit  by  parent  or  guardian  or 

by  minor  himself,  certifying  date  and  place  of  birth. 
Kansas — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  when  school  certificate  of  age  cannot 
be  obtained,  sworn  statement  of  parent  or  guardian,  stating  age  of 
child. 
Kentucky — Required  under  14,  certificate  of  age,  date  and  place  of  birth  sworn 
to  by  parent  or  guardian.     If  child  has  no  parent  or  guardian, 
affidavit  to  be  made  by  child. 
Michigan — Required  under  16,  certificate  sworn  to  by  parent  or  guardian  or  by 
child  himself,  stating  that  child  can  read  and  write  and  giving  age, 
date  and  place  of  birth.     Register  must  be  kept  recording  name, 
birthplace,  age  and  place  of  residence. 
New  Hampshire — Required  under  16,  statement  of  age,  sworn  to  by  parent  or 
guardian  before  superintendent  of  schools  or  some  person 
authorized  by  school  board.     Also  certificate  from  superin- 
tendent  of   schools   or   authorized   person   that   child   can 
read   at  sight   and  legibly  ,write  simple  sentences  in  the 
English  language. 

33 


Group  II.  (Continued) — Affidavit  or  Statement  of  Parent  or  Child  as  Proof  of  Age 

North  Carolina — Required  under  12,  written  statement  of  age  of  parent  or 
guardian. 

Pennsylvania — Required  between  14  and  16  years,  employment  certificate 
issued  by  Factory  Inspector  or  any  of  his  office  force,  the 
deputy  factory  inspectors,  or  school  superintendents,  or 
principal  teacher  of  common  school  in  localities  not  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  any  superintendent.  This  certificate 
to  state  name,  age,  date,  place  of  birth,  and  description  of 
child,  its  residence,  and  residence  of  parent  or  guardian,  and 
ability  of  said  child  to  read  and  write  simple  sentences  in 
English  language. 

Before  certificate  of  employment  is  issued,  person  authorized  to 
issue  it,  first  to  demand  and  obtain  of  parent  or  guardian 
affidavit  stating  age,  date  and  place  of  birth  of  child. 
South  Carolina — Required  under  12,  affidavit  of  parent  or  guardian  stating  age 

of  child. 
Tennessee — Required  under   14,  sworn  statement  of  age  made  by  parent  or 

guardian,  unless  age  of  child  is  known  by  employer. 
West  Virginia — Required  for  boys  over  12,  employed  in  coal  mines,  in  cases  of 
doubt  as  to  age,  affidavit  of  parent  or  guardian. 

Group  III. — No  Proof  of  Age  Required 

Alaska  Indian  Territory  South  Dakota 

Arizona  Iowa  Texas 

Colorado  Louisiana  Utah 

District  of  Columbia  Mississippi  Vermont 

Florida  Nevada  Virginia 

Georgia  New  Mexico  West  Virginia  (except  in 

Hawaii  North  Dakota  coal  mines) 

Idaho  Oklahoma  Wyoming 


94 


SCHEDULE  F— DANGEROUS  OCCUPATIONS. 

The  operation  of  elevators  or  of  dangerous  machinery  by  minors  under 
certain  ages  is  prohibited  in  seventeen  states. 

A  large  group  of  states  prohibit  occupations  dangerous  to  health  or  morals: 
chiefly  the  employment  of  children  where  liquors  are  sold,  rope-walking  and 
kindred  exhibitions.  This  is  usually  in  the  penal  code  and  more  or  less  completely 
non-enforced.  It  is  desirable  to  have  it  embodied  in  the  labor  law  also,  and 
enforced  by  the  factory  inspectors.  This  general  provision  is  effective  principally 
in  case  of  damage  suits,  following  upon  accidents  to  minors.     See  p.  6i. 

Illinois  and  Ohio  lead  all  the  states  in  specifically  prohibiting  the  employ- 
ment of  children  under  sixteen  years  in  a  list  of  manufactures  involving  many 
different  kinds  of  dangerous  machinery,  and  in  forbidding  the  employment  of 
children  under  sixteen  years  in  three  special  manufactures — paints  or  colors,  and 
compositions  needing  acids,  in  Illinois;  matches  and  compositions  needing  acids, 
in  Ohio. 

In  Massachusetts,  the  state  board  of  health  is  authorized  to  investigate  and 
prohibit  such  manufacture  of  acids  for  minors  under  eighteen.  In  New  York 
boys  under  i8,  and  all  women  are  prohibited  from  operating  emery,  emery  polish- 
ing, or  buffing  wheels.  In  Colorado  all  paper  mills,  cotton  mills  and  factories 
where  wearing  apparel  for  men  and  women  is  made,  ore  reduction  mills  or  smel- 
ters, factories,  shops  of  all  kinds  and  stores  may  be  held  to  be  unhealthful  and 
dangerous  occupations  at  the  discretion  of  the  county  court. 

Group  I. — Operation  of  Elevators  Is  Prohibited 

Connecticut — to  i6  years. 

Illinois — to  1 6  years. 

Iowa — ^to  14  years. 

Indiana — to  18  years, 

Kentucky — to  16  years. 

Massachusetts — to  16  years;  for  any  elevator  running  at  a  speed  of  more  than 

100  feet  a  minute,  to  18  years. 
Minnesota — to  16  years;  for  elevators  running  at  a  speed  of  more  than  200  feet  a 

minute,  to  18  years. 
New  York — ^to  1 5  years ;  for  any  elevator  running  at  a  speed  of  more  than  200  feet 

a  minute,  to  18  years. 
Ohio — ^to  16  years. 
Pennsylvania — ^to  16  years. 
Wisconsin — ^to  16  years. 

Group  II. — Operation  or  Cleaning  Dangerous  Machinery  Is  Prohibited 

Illinois — ^to   16   years;  14  different  machines  specified.     (See  Standard  Child 

Labor  Law,  Sec.  II,  p.  49.) 
Indiana — ^boys  to  16  years;  girls  to  18  years. 
Iowa — boys  to  16  years;  girls  to  18  years. 

Kentucky — ^to  18  years.     Applies  also  to  sewing  belts  or  assisting  in  same. 
Louisiana — ^to  12  years. 
Massachusetts — ^to  14  years. 

35 


Group  II.   (Continued) — Operation  or  Cleaning  Dangerous  Machinery  Prohibited. 

Michigan — boys  to  i8  years;  girls  to  21  years. 
Missouri — ^to  21  years. 
New  Jersey — ^to  16  years. 
New  York — ^boys  to  18;  girls  to  21  years. 
Ohio — ^to  16  years,  14  different  kinds  of  machinery  specified. 
Pennsylvania — ^to  16  years. 

Rhode  Island — To  16  years  (unless  same  is  necessary  and  is  approved  by  Factory 
Inpector  as  not  dangerous). 


Group  III. — Specified  Manufactures  Are  Prohibited 

Illinois — ^to  16  years,  manufacture  of  paints,  colors  or  white  lead,  or  compositions 

needing  acids.     (See  Standard  Child  Labor  Law,  Sec.  11,  p.  49.) 
Ohio — ^to  16  years,  manufacture  of  matches,  paints,  colors  or  white  lead,  or  com- 
positions needing  acids. 
Massachusetts — ^to  18  years,  manufacture  of  acids  (upon  complaint  and  after 

investigation  by  state  board  of  health) . 
New  York — to  18  years  for  boys,  and  for  all  women,  operation  of  emery,  tripoli, 
rouge,  corundum,  stone  carborundum,  or  any  abrasive,  or  emery 
polishing  or  buffing  wheel,  where  articles  of  the  baser  metals  or  of 
iridium  are  manufactured. 


Group  IV. — ^Employment  Is  Prohibited  in  Saloons  or  Where  Liquors  are  Sold 

Tentative  List. 


Alaska 

Georgia 

Massachusetts 

Pennsylvania 

California 

Illinois 

Michigan 

South  Dakota 

Colorado 

Hawaii 

New  Hampshire 

Vermont 

Connecticut 

Maryland 

New  York 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Group  IV. — Vague  General  Prohibition  of  Employments  Dangerous  to  Health 

or  Morals 


California — ^to  16  years 
Colorado — ^to  14  years 
Connecticut — ^to  12  years 
Delaware — to  15  years 
District  of  Columbia — ^to 
Georgia — ^to  12  years 
Illinois — ^to  16  years 
Indiana — ^to  15  years 
Iowa— to  16  years 
Kansas  —  to  1 6  years 
Kentucky — ^to  16  years 
Massachusetts — ^to  16  years 


Michigan — ^to  16  years 
Missouri — ^to  14  years 
New  Jersey — to  16  years 
New  York — ^to  16  years 
14  years  Ohio — ^to  16  years 

Pennsylvania — to  15  years 
Rhode  Island — to  16  years 
Virginia — to  14  years 
West  Virginia — 16  15  years 
Wisconsin— to  14  years 
Wyoming — ^to  14  years 


26 


SCHEDULE  G— EXEMPTIONS. 

The  best  laws  have  no  exemptions.  Every  exemption  is  an  injury  to  the  law 
and  to  the  class  exempted,  being  a  deprivation  of  protection. 

The  most  important  exemptions  allowing  work  under  age  have  been  em- 
bodied in  Schedule  A.  These  are  exemptions  of  orphans,  children  of  disabled 
fathers  or  widowed  mothers,  and  the  special  exemption  of  the  canning  industry 
in  several  states. 

The  exemption  of  orphans  from  the  protection  of  the  law  is  especially  to  be 
deplored.  It  places  on  children  already  handicapped,  the  additional  burden  of 
wage  earning  at  an  age  when,  acco-rding  to  the  very  statute  which  grants  the 
exemption,  children  in  more  fortunate  circumstances  need  protection. 

There  remain  to  be  noted  the  officials  authorized  to  grant  exemptions,  and 
the  reasons  for  granting. 

Exemptions  for  work  over  time  are  allowed  for  various  reasons  in  fifteen 
different  states. 

A— WORK  IS  ALLOWED  UNDER  AGE 

Authorities  Who  Grant  Exemptions 

California — Exemptions  between  12  and  14  years,  granted  on  account  of  poverty 
by  judge  of  juvenile  or  superior  court  of  county,  upon  sworn 
statement  of  parent  that  child  is  past  12  years    and  after  investi- 
gation by  a  probation  or  truant  officer,  or  where  there  is  none,  by 
some  other  competent  person.  Permit  shall  specify  kind  of  work 
allowed  and  length  of  time  for  which  it  is  issued.     Granted  also  to 
children  over  12,  for  employment  in    vacation,  by  principal  of 
school  attended  in  term  preceding  such  vacation. 
Colorado — Between  14  and  16  years,  granted  by  judge  of  county  court,  of  county 
in  which  child  resides,  if  it  would  be  in  the  opinion  of  said  judge, 
for  child's  best  interest  to  be  so    exempted.      Granted    also  on 
account  of  poverty  by  district  or  county  superintendent  of  schools. 
Minnesota — Under  14  and  illiterates  under  16,  granted  on  account   of   poverty 

by  school  board  or  board  of  school  trustees. 
Missouri— Under  16,  granted  on  account  of  poverty  by  any  court  of  competent 

jurisdiction. 
New  York — Over   12   years,  for  employment  in  mercantile  establishments  in 
villages  and  cities  of  the  third  class,  during  summer  vacation  of 
pubhc  schools.     Vacation   certificate  required,  to  be  issued  in 
same  manner,  upon  same  conditions  and  on  like  proof  that  child 
is  12  years  or  upward,  and  is  in  sound  health,  as  is  required  for 
issuance  of  employment  certificate  (see  p.21)  except  that  school 
record  shall  not  be  required. 
North  Dakota — Under  14  years,  granted  on  account  of  poverty  by  board  of 
education,  of  a  city  or  village  and  by  school  board  of  other 
districts. 
Oregon — Between  12  and  14  years,  granted  by  board  of  inspectors  of  child  labor, 
in  any  suitable  work,  in  any  school  vacation  extending  over  a  period 
of  more  than  two  weeks. 

37 


South  Carolina — Under  12  years,  granted  on  account  of  poverty  provided  that 
guardian  of  child  shall  furnish  an  affidavit  duly  sworn  to 
before  magistrate  or  clerk  of  court  of  county,  stating  need  of 
child's  support,  and  provided  that  the  officer  before  whom 
affidavit  is  subscribed  shall  endorse  upon  back  thereof  his 
approval  and  consent. 
Texas — For  illiterates  under  14,  whose  parents  are  incapacitated  to  support  them. 
Washington — Between  12  and  14,  granted  on  account  of  poverty  by  any  superior 
court  judge  living  within  residence  district  of  child,  for  any 
occupation  not  in  his  opinion  dangerous  to  health  or  morals  of 
child. 
Wisconsin — Over  12  years,  in  vacation,  granted  on  account  of  poverty  by  county 
judge  of  county  in  which  child  resides,  or   by  commissioner   of 
labor,  or  any  factory  inspector  or  assistant  factory  inspector. 


B.— WORK  IS  ALLOWED  OVER  TIME 

I. — On  Saturday  for  for  Certain  Days  Preceding  Christmas 

Colorado — Children  under  16  may  work  more  than    8   hours  in  the  day,  in  the 

week  before  and  following  Christmas  Day. 
Minnesota — Children  over  14  years  of  age  may  be  employed  in  mercantile  estab- 
lishments on  Saturdays  and  for  10  days  each  year  before  Christ- 
mas until  10  in  the  evening;  provided  that  this  permission  is  not 
so  construed  as  to  permit   such  children  to  work  more  than    10 
hours  in  any  one  day  or  over  60  hours  in  any  one  week. 
Pennsylvania — Children  under  16  years  may  work  in  retail  mercantile  establish- 
ments after  9  p.  m.  and  longer  than  60  hours  a  week,  and  12 
hours  in  one  day  on  Saturday  of  each  week,  and  during  20  days, 
beginning  December  5,  and  ending  December  24;  Provided 
that  within  said  20  days,  working  hours  shall  not  exceed  10 
hours  per  day,  or  60  hours  per  week. 
Rhode  Island — Minors  under  16  years  may  work  after  8  p.  m.  on  Saturdays,  and 
4  days  before  Christmas. 


II. — ^To  make  up  lost  time  due  to  some  accident  or  breakdown  in  the 
machinery 

New  Hampshire— Women  and  children  under  18  may  be  employed  for  this  pur- 
pose more  than  10  hours  in  a  day. 

South  Carolina — Children  under  12  (whose  labor  is  permissible  only  if  they  are 
allowed  to  work  because  they  are  children  of  widows  or  of 
disabled  fathers  or  are  orphans)  may  be  employed  for  this 
purpose  after  8  p.  m.,  provided  that  under  no  circumstances 
a  child  below  1 2  years  of  age  shall  work  later  than  9  p.m. 

III. — When  a  different  apportionment  of  hours  of  labor  is  made  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  making  a  shorter  day's  work  for  one  day  in  the  week 

Indiana — Boys  under  16  and  girls  under  18  may  work  more  than  60  hours  in  one 

week  or  10  hours  in  one  day;  but  not  more  hours  in  any  one  week 

than  would  make  an  average  of  10  hours  per  day  for  whole  number 

of  days  which  such  persons  work  during  such  week. 

Kentucky — Children  under  16  may  work  more  than  10  hours  in  one  day,  and  60 

hours  in  a  week. 

38 


IV. — Either  (a)  when  a  different  apportionment  of  hours  is  made  for  the  sola 
purpose  of  making  a  shorter  workday  for  one  day  of  the  week,  or  (b)  when  it  is 
necessary  to  make  repairs  to  prevent  the  interruption  of  the  ordinary  running  of 
the  establishment 

California — Minors  under  i8  may  work  more  than  9  hours  in  one  day,  but  in  no 

case  must  hours  of  labor  exceed  54  hours  in  the  week. 
Maine — Women  and  boys  under  16  may  work  more  than  10  hours  in  a  day,  but 

in  no  case  must  hours  of  labor  exceed  60  hours  in  the  week. 
New  Hampshire— Women  and  minors  under  18  may  be  employed  more  than  10 

hours  a  day. 
Rhode   Island — Women   and  minors  under  16  may  work  more  than  10  hours 

in  one  day. 
Connecticut — Women  and  minors  under  16  may  work  more  than  10  hours  in  one 

day. 
Michigan — ^Women  under  21  and  boys  under  18  maybe  employed  more  than  60 
hours  in  one  week  for  second  cause  (b) ,  and  may  be  employed  more 
than  10  hours  in  any  one  day  for  first  cause  (a). 

V. — To  prevent  waste  or  destruction  of  material  in  process  of  manufacture 

Pennsylvania — Boys  over  14  years,  who  have  not  been  employed  between  6  a.  m. 
and  9  p.  M.,  may  be  employed  for  not  more  than  9  consecutive 
hours  in  any  one  day  after  9  p.  m.,  provided  that  in  establish- 
ments where  night  work  is  hereby  permitted,  and  where  the 
nature  of  employment  requires  two  or  more  working  shifts  in 
24  hours,  males  over  14  years  may  be  employed  partly  by  day 
and  partly  by  night,  not  more  than  9  consecutive  hours. 


SCHEDULE  H— ENFORCEMENT 
I.— THE  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS 

Diversity  is  the  chief  characteristic  of  enforcement.  Judges,  juries,  county 
and  prosecuting  attorneys,  probation  officers,  truant  officers,  and  factory  inspec- 
tors figure  in  the  varying  processes  of  enforcement  in  the  different  states. 

States  which  have  no  factory  inspectors  afford  no  adequate  effective  pro- 
tection to  working  children.  When  probation  officers  attached  to  juvenile 
courts  make  occasional  arrests  of  employers,  it  is  not  the  prime  duty  of  these 
officers  to  make  systematic  search  for  children  in  factories,  workshops,  etc.,  and  to 
ascertain  the  sanitary  conditions  under  which  work  is  done.  Truant  officers  also 
are  insufficient  for  enforcing  the  closing  hour  and  stopping  night  work. 

The  value  of  child  labor  laws  depends  upon  the  quality  of  the  inspectors, 
their  tenure  of  office,  and  the  amount  of  money  appropriated  for  their  use. 
Where  factory  inspectors  are  politicians  and  truant  officers  are  aged  and  decrepit, 
the  children  suffer  accordingly. 

The  District  of  Columbia  and  17  states  and  territories  provide  no  special 
officials  for  inspection  or  enforcement.  Violation  of  the  law  may  be  prosecuted 
by  the  county  attorney,  if  complaint  is  made  to  him  by  any  interested  person. 
Seven  states  have  entirely  given  over  to  the  school  authorities  the  enforcement  of 
child  labor  laws,  and  in  many  others  the  truant  officers  as  well  as  the  factory 
inspectors  are  authorized  to  enter  places  of  employment,  to  demand  certificates  of 
age  or  schooling,  to  make  arrests  and  to  enter  prosecutions  for  violation  through 
the  prosecuting  attorney. 

The  names  and  addresses  of  state  labor  officials  charged  with  the  enforce- 
ment of  child  labor  laws  are  included  in  order  that  any  person  in  any  state,  where 
such  officials  are  appointed  to  enforce  these  laws,  may  turn  to  this  list  to  discover 
precisely  upon  whom  the  responsibility  for  enforcement  or  non-enforcement  rests. 

»9 


The  list  of  names  has  been  obtained  by  correspondence  with  the  heads  of 
labor  departments  of  the  various  states.  It  is  possible  that  additional  appo'nt- 
ments  have  been  made  since  these  lists  were  received  (November,  1906).  No 
attempt  is  made  to  give  the  names  and  addresses  of  truant  officers  or  school 
authorities,  owing  to  the  obvious  difficulty  of  obtaining  accurate  lists. 


DIRECTORY  OF  OFFICIALS  FOR  ENFORCEMENT 
a. — State  Labor  Officials. 

California — Commissioner    of    Labor,    salary    $3,000;  Deputy,    salary    $1,800; 
assistants  not  exceeding  3,  salaries  not  to  exceed  $4  per  day,   all 
expenses  allowed. 
W.  V.  Stafford,  Commissioner,  Ferry  Building,  San  Francisco. 
J.  M.  Eshleman,  Deputy,  Ferry  Building,  San  Francisco. 
Delaware — Factory  and  Workshop  Inspector,  salary  $1,000.     Joseph  A.  Bond, 

Inspector,  10 11  Tatnall  St.,  Wilmington. 
Illinois — Chief  State  Factory  Inspector,  salary  $2,000;  Assistant  Chief,  salary 
$1,250,  and  18  deputy  factoryinspectors,  salaries  $1,000.     Appropria- 
tion to  cover  all  necessary  expenses,  $10,000. 
Edgar  T.  Davies,  Chief,  Security  Building,  Chicago. 
Jos.  Mitchell,  36  N.  Sacramento  Ave.     Esther  F.  Bradford,  4425    Berkley  Ave. 
J.  M.  Patterson,  4453  Berkley  Ave.         Marie  L.  Morrow,  4316  Vincennes  Ave. 
M.  S.  Rieger,  450  Augusta  St.  Jane  M.  Canedy,  1495  Wellington  Ave. 

John  Fitzsimmons,  6122  S.  Park  Ave.    Evelyn  M.  Atchley,  1563  N.Talman  Ave. 
Jacob  Goldman,  1650  Melrose  St.  George  Johnson,  Bloomington. 

Gordon  Chavis,  3560  Vernon  Ave.  Adam  Menche,  Kewanee. 

Mrs.  F.  H.  Greene,  696  Warren  Ave.        Jacob  Swank,  Forreston. 
Sarah  R.Crowley, 1245  N. California  Ave.  Eugene  Whiting,  Canton. 
Adele  M.  Whitgreave,  3135  S.  Park  Ave.  Oscar  W.  Jencks,  Bunker  Hill. 
Indiana — Chief  Inspector,  salary  $1,800  and  actual  expenses  and  a  sufficient 
number  of  deputies  not  to  exceed  5. 
D.  H.  McAbee,  Chief  Inspector,  Capitol,  Indianapolis. 
David  F.  Specs,  Chief  Deputy,  Capitol,  Indianapolis. 

Deputy  Inspectors. 
H.  A.  Richards,  Muncie.  T.  S.  WilHamson,  Anderson. 

J.  H.  Roberts,  South  Bend.  A.  L.  Wright,  Indianapolis. 

Iowa — Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics,  salary  $1,500,  deputy  and  one  factory 
inspector,  salaries  $1,200,  and  expenses  not  to  exceed  $1,500. 
Edward  D.  Brigham,  Commissioner,  Des  Moines. 
Alfred  Shepherd,  deputy,  Des  Moines. 
Frank  Bradley,  factory  inspector,  Des  Moines. 
Kansas  ^Commissioner    of    Labor,    salary    $1,500.     Assistant    Commissioner 
salary  $1,200. 
W.  L.  H.  Johnson,  Commissioner,  Topeka. 
W.  D.  Robinson,  Assistant,  Topeka. 
Kentucky — Labor  Inspector,  salary  $1,200  and  one  assistant,  salary  $1,000  and 
traveling  expenses. 
"The  grand  jury  shall  have  inquisitorial  powers  to  investigate  viola- 
tions of  this  act,  and  judges  of  the  circuit  courts  of  this  state  shall 
specially  charge  the  grand  jury  at  the  beginning  of  each  term  of 
the  court  to  investigate  violations  of  this  act." 
Thomas  J.  Scally,  Inspector,  241 1  W.  Market  St.,  Louisville. 
William  Young,  assistant  labor  inspector,  Latonia. 
Louisiana — Superintendent  or  chief  officer  of  police  in  cities;  in  towns  the  mayor 
shall  detail  what  portion  of  the  police  force  is  necessary.     Factory 
inspectors  in  cities  of  more  than  10,000  inhabitants. 

30 


Maine — Inspector  of  Factories  and  Workshops,  salary  $i,ooo  and  reasonable 
expenses;  and  a  sufficient  number  of  assistant  deputies,  salaries  $2 
per  day  and  reasonable  expenses  while  engaged  in  duty.  For  viola- 
tion of  section  requiring  children  under  15  to  attend  school  for  a  re- 
quired period  during  employment,  school  committees  and  superinten- 
dent must  report  to  the  county  attorney  who  shall  prosecute  therefor. 
George  E.  Morrison,  Inspector,  Biddeford,  Maine. 

Maryland  -Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  salary  $2,500;    assistant,  salary 
$2,000,  and  six  child  labor  inspectors,  salaries  $900;  two  factory 
inspectors. 
Charles  J.  Fox,  Chief,  Equitable  Bldg.,  Baltimore. 
J.  G.  Schonfarber,  Assistant,  Equitable  Bldg.,  Baltimore. 
Mr.  T.  Hunt  Mayfield,  S.  EHzabeth  Spicer, 

Mrs.  M.  A.  Richardson,  Michael  J.  Lindsay, 

Mrs.  B.  A.  C.  Wells,  Joseph  B.  Joiner, 

M.  Herzog,  Frank  Armiger, 

Massachusetts — Chief  of  the  District  Police,  salary  $3,000;  deputy  chief,  salary 
$2,400  and  28  factory  inspectors,  salaries  $1,500  and  all  neces- 
sary traveling  expenses.     Truant  officers  appointed  by  the 
school  committee  of  every  city  and  town. 
Joseph  E.  Shaw,  Chief,  State  House,  Boston. 
Joseph  A:  Moore,  Deputy  Chief,  State  House,  Boston. 

Factory  Inspectors 

Arlon  S.  Atherton,State  House,  Boston.  Wm.  J.  McKeever,  State  House,  Boston. 
Charles  S.  Clerke,  State  House,  Boston.    Malcom  Sillars,  State  House,  Boston. 
Joseph  Halstrick,  State  House,  Boston.    Mary  A.  Nason,  State    House,  Boston. 
Charles  A.   Dam,   Worcester.  James  R.  Howes,  Springfield. 

Robert  Ellis,  Fall  River.  John  J.  Sheehan,  Salem. 

James  W.  Hoitt,  North  Adams.  Frank  C.  Wasley,  Lowell. 

Michigan — Commissioner  of  Labor,  salary  $2,000  and  expenses;  Deputy  Com- 
missioner, salary  $1,500  and  expenses.  Such  assistants  as  may 
be  necessary,  at  least  one  of  whom  shall  be  a  woman. 

Malcolm   J.    McLeod,   Commissioner,    Inspector,   Lansing. 

R.  H.  Fletcher,  Deputy  Commissioner,  Lansing. 

Deputy  Inspectors 

Miss  L.  Darvoux,  Detroit.  A.  B.  Glaspie,  Oxford. 

Mrs.  M.  C.  Girardin,  Detroit.  Frank  T.  Ley,  Grand  Rapids. 

Henry  J.  Eikhoff,  Detroit.  Miss  E.  Griswold,  Grand  Rapids. 

William  J.  Downey,  Detroit.  Miss  L.  M.  Burton,   Grand  Rapids. 

John  J.  Knight,  Detroit.  A.  C.  Galbraith,  North  Branch. 

George  Houston,    Detroit.  W.  S.  Tucker,  Big  Rapids. 

Ray  E.  Hart,  Battle  Creek.  S.  A.  Hall,  Bay  City. 

L.  C.  Watkins,  Jackson.  Alexander  F.  Kerr,  Laurium. 

John  W.  Rose.  Kalamazoo. 

Minnesota — Commissioner  of  Labor,  salary  $2,500  and  expenses;  assistant 
commissioner  and  factory  inspector,  salaries  $1,500  and  $2,100, 
two  deputies  and  four  assistant  factory  inspectors,  salaries  $1,000 
each  and  expenses  (total  appropriation  $16,200). 

Hon.  W.  H.  Williams,  Commissioner,  St.  Paul. 

Hon.  E.  J.  Lynch,  Asst.  Commissioner,  St.  Paul. 

Julius  Moersch,  Factory  Inspector  and  Statistician,  St.  Paul. 

Frank  E.  Hoffman,  Deputy  Commissioner,  St.  Paul. 

Louis  Vogler,  Deputy  Commissioner,  Minneapolis. 

SI 


Factory  Inspectors. 
August  Hagberg,  Duluth.  Frank  E.  Murray,  Minneapolis. 

Peter  J.  Karpen,  St.  Paul.  Louis  Torgerson,  Minneapolis. 

Missouri — State  Factory  Inspector  (since  1903  can  inspect  only  in  cities  of  more 
than    30,000    inhabitants).     Attendance    officers,    appointed    and 
salary  fixed  by  school  board;  vested  with  authority  to  enter  any 
office,  factory  or  business  house  employing  children,  and  to  make 
arrests. 
J.  C.  A.  Hiller,  Factory  Inspector,  St.  Louis. 
Nebraska — Deputy  Commissioner  of  Labor,  salary  $1,500. 
Burrett  Bush,  Deputy  Commissioner,  Lincoln. 
Don  C.  Despain,  Chief  Clerk,  Lincoln. 
New  Jersey — Commissioner  of  Labor,   salary  $2,500;  assistant  commissioner, 
salary  $1,500  and  11  inspectors,  two  of  whom  shall  be  women, 
salaries  $1,000  and  all  necessary  expenses  allowed. 
Lewis  T.  Bryant,  Commissioner,  State  House,  Trenton. 
John  I.  Holt,  Asst.  Commissioner,  State  House,  Trenton. 

Inspectors. 
Henry  Kuehnle,  Egg  Harbor  City. 
Louis  Holler,  304  Mickle  St.,  Camden. 
Joseph  Milbum,  303  Centre  St.,  Trenton. 
Edward  McClintock,  15  Wallace  St.,  Newark. 
Andrew  McCardell,  Plainfield. 
H.  F.  Thompson,  519  Willow  Ave.,  Hoboken. 
William  Schlachter,  7  Condit  PI.,  Orange. 
Heber  Wells,  412  E.  30th  St.,  Paterson. 
James  Stanton,  Sussex. 

Mary  F.  Van  Leer,  1362  Kaighn  Ave.,  Camden. 
Grace  L.  De  Hart,  99  Mercer  St.,  Jersey  City. 
New  York — ^The  Board  or  Department  of  Health  or  Health  Commissioners,  for 
employment  in  mercantile  establishments;  in  factories,  the  Com- 
missioner of  Labor,  salary  $3,500;  first  deputy  commissioner  of 
labor,  salary  $2,500,  and  38  deputies,  salaries  $1,200  and  $1,000, 
8  of  whom  are  women. 
P.  Tecumseh  Sherman,  Commissioner,  New  York  City. 
John  Williams,  ist  Deputy  Commissioner,  Utica. 
Thomas  A.  Keith,  Asst.  to  ist  Deputy  Com.,  New  York  City. 

Louis  A.  Havens,  Special  Agent,  New  York  City. 

* 

Deputy  Factory  Inspectors. 


John  A.  Donald,  New  York  City. 

Margaret  Finn,  N.  Y.  City. 

Mat  hew  J.  Flanagan,  N.  Y.  City. 

WiUiam  Ford,  N.  Y.  City. 

Lily  F.  Foster,  N.  Y.  City. 

Mrs.  R.  B.  Gourhe,  N.  Y.  City. 

Mrs.  Ella  Nagle,  N.  Y.  City. 

Anna  C.  Bannon,  N.  Y.  City. 

Wm.  W.  Walling,  N.  Y.  City. 

Chas.  L.  Halbertstadt,  Jr.,  N.  Y.  City. 

Dennis  J.  H anion,  N.  Y.  City. 

Chas.  Whelan,  N.  Y.  City. 

James  H.  Bell,  N.  Y.  City. 

Maurice  Barshell,  N.  Y.  City. 

Solomon  H.  Brenner,  N.  Y.  City. 

George  S.  Cangialosi,  N.  Y.  City. 

WilHam  H.  Donahue,  N.  Y.  City. 


Kate  L.  Kane,  Rochester. 
Charles  Kinney,  Vineyard. 
Chas.  M.  Lessels,  Troy. 
Willard  G.  Lounsberry,  Utica. 
Luman  S.  Arnold,  Earlville. 
Chas.  B.  Ash,  Yonkers. 
Hiram  Blanchard,  Schenectady. 
Mrs.  Annie  L.  Green,  Fort  Plain. 
James  Davie,  Ossining. 
Gilbert  I.  Harmon,  Hoosick  Falls. 
Geo.  L.  Horn,  Brooklyn. 
Frank  S.  Nash,  Binghamton. 
Wm.  J.  Neely,  Brooklyn. 
Joseph  O'Rourke,  Utica. 
Silas  Owen,  Cohoes. 
Josie  A.  Reilly,  Albany. 
Chas.  H.  Roberts,  Dresden. 

3« 


William  H.  Guyett,  N.  Y  City  Wm.  Pearson,  Cortland. 

Sigmond  Horkimer,  N.  Y.  City,  Henry  L.  Schnur,  Buffalo. 

William  H.  Rich,  N.  Y.  City.  Jefferson  B.  Sliter,  Elmira. 

Abraham  Sirota,  N.  Y.  City.  Dennis  C.  Sullivan,  Rochester. 

Simeon  Goodelman,  N.  Y.  City.  Wm.  E.  Tibbs,  Newburgh. 

E.  H.  Williamson,  N.  Y.  City.  David  S.  Yard,  Clean. 

James  W.  Ireland,  Ithaca. 
Charles  M.  Gilmore,  Deputy  Mine  Inspector,  Binghamton. 
North  Carolina — Commissioner  of  Labor,  salary  $1,500. 

Henry  B.  Varner,  Raleigh. 
Ohio — ^Chief  Inspector  of  Workshops  and  Factories,  salary,   $2,000;  thirteen 
district  and  two  bakeshop  inspectors,  salaries,  $1,200;  all  necessary 
traveling  expenses,  not  to  exceed  $500  a  man,    allowed.     Inspectors 
have  same  authority  as  truant  officers  to  enforce  school  attendance 
of  any  child  found  violating  the  school  laws. 
J.  H.  Morgan,  Chief  Inspector,  Columbus. 
Frank  Bach,  2338   79th  St.,  S.  E.,  Cleveland. 
E.  F.  Griffin,  7920  Bellevue  Ave.,  N.  E.,  Cleveland. 
Theodore  Wagner,  6603  Berwick  Road,  S.  E.,  Cleveland. 
A.  F.  Spaeth,  Room  3,  Bavaria  Bldg.,  Cincinnati. 
William  Woehrlin,  Room  3,  Bavaria  Bldg.,  Cincinnati. 
John  F.  Ward,  1028  Star  St.,  Youngstown. 
Ralph  C.  Shipman,  236  East  Second  St.,  Elyria. 
Col.  E.  S.  Bryant,  Bloomdale. 
John  W.  Bly,  528  East  Lincoln  St.,  Findlay. 
L.  W.  Ralston,  Mechanicstown. 
Chas.  W.  Highfield,  224  West  Main  St.,  Zanesville. 
Richard  Lloyd,  P.  O.  Box  633,  Columbus. 
C.  B.  Baker,  409  West  Water  St.,  Piqua. 
John  H.  Gillen,  R.  F.  D.  No.  i,  Portsmouth. 
O.  D.  Bell,  423  North  Sixth  St.,  Cambridge. 

Oregon — The  Board  of  Inspectors  of  Child  Labor,  composed  of  5  persons,  3  at 
least  of  whom  shall  be  women,  to  serve  without  compensation.     Ves- 
ted with  power  to  enter  factories  and  stores. 
H.  G.  Kundret,  23 2 J  Washington  St.,  Portland. 
Mrs.  Millie  R.  Trumbull,  821  Corbett  St.,  Portland. 
Rev.  Wm.  G.  Eliot,  681  Schuyler  St. 
Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Evans,  Oswego. 
Mrs.  Belle  M.  Wright,  Union. 
Pennsylvania — Factory  Inspector  and  39  deputy  factory  inspectors,  5  of  whom 
shall  be  women,  at  salaries  of  $1,200,  traveling  expenses  al- 
lowed.    For  mines,   Chief  of   Department   of  Mines   and   30 
inspectors. 
J.  C.  Delaney,  Inspector,  Harrisburg. 
Deputy  Inspectors. 
T.  A.  Lee,  2046  Reed  St.,  Phila.  Mary  S.  Glenn,  Holmesburg,  Phila. 

W.  J.  Crowley,  916  Mifffin  St.,  Phila.      H.  N.  Eisenbrey,  Olney,  Phila. 
P.  H.  Kenny,  163 1  Porter  St.,  Phila.       Gus  Egolf,  Norristown. 
C.  H.  Breithbarth,  809  Spring  Garden      W.  R.  Fullerton,  Chester. 

St.,  Phila.  M.  E.  Bushong,  May. 

Chas.  B.  Noblit,  639  N.  45th  St.,  Phila.  Harry  McBechtel,  Pottstown. 
Meredith    B.   Leach,  733   Walnut   St.,  Annie  E.    Leisenring,    432   Chew    St., 

Phila.  Allentown. 

R.  Hamilton,  40  E.  Coulter  St.,  Phila.     James  Patterson,  Bristol. 
M.  Keller  (Mrs.),  5144 Sansom  St.,  Phila.  J.  W.  Davis,  Plymouth. 
W.  S.  Godfrey,  2545  Cedar  St.,  Phila.      George  W.  Nape,  Scranton. 

33 


Jas.  Knight,  Jr.,  3716  N.  Randolph  St.,  E.  W.  Bishop,  Towanda. 
Phila.  J.  H.  Ferris,  Little  Marsh. 

Joseph  Sumner,  4138  Terrace  St.,  Phila.  J.  K.  Robison,  Mifflintown. 
L.  L.  Knisely,  231  Pine  St.,  Harrisburg.  James  Dunn,  Latrobe. 
Joseph  P.  Quinn  E.  P.  Gamble,  Altoona. 

T.  A.  Bradley,  Lilly.  James  R.  Patterson,  Beaver' Falls. 

M.  D.  Howe,  Delmar.  J.  C.  McClymonds,  Portersville. 

A.  W.  McCoy,  Meadville.  M.  N.  Baker,  Corry. 

Anna  White,  1223  Buena  Vista  St.,  Allegheny  City. 
George  L  Rudolph,  1406  Western  Ave.,  Allegheny  City. 
David  E.  Weaver,  2320  Sidney  St.,  Pittsburg. 
Elizabeth  Torrens,  5903  Penn  Ave.,  Pittsburg. 
Rhode  Island — Chief  Factory  Inspector,  salary  $2,000,  and  two  assistant  factory 
inspectors — one  of  whom  shall  be  a  woman,  salaries,  $1,000. 
All  necessary  expenses  allowed,  not  to  exceed  $2,000.     One 
or  more  truant  officers  appointed,  and  salary  fixed  by  the 
school  committee  of  each  town  or  city. 
J.  EUery  Hudson,  Chief  Inspector,  State  House,  Providence. 
Mrs.  Helen  M.  Jenks,  Assistant  Inspector,  State  House,  Providence. 
Joseph  Roy,  Assistant  Inspector,  State  House,  Providence. 
Tennessee — Grand  Jury  has  inquisitorial  powers  to  investigate  violations  and 
judges  of  the  circtiit  courts  of  the  state  shall  specially  charge  the 
grand  jury  at  the  beginning  of  each  term  of  the  court  to  investigate 
violations. 
Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics  and  Mines,  expenses  of  the  depart- 
ment not  to  exceed  $4,000  per  year;  commissioner  to  act  as  in- 
spector of  mines. 
Virginia — Commissioner  of  Labor,  salary  $800.     Appropriation  for  department 
not  to  exceed  $2,000. 
James  B.  Doherty,  Commissioner,  Richmond. 
Washington — Commissioner  of  Labor. 

Charles  F.  Hubbard,  Commissoner,  Olympia. 
West  Virginia — State  Commissioner  of  Labor. 

I.  V.  Barton,  Commissioner,  Wheeling. 
Wisconsin — Commissioner  of  Labor,  salary  $2,000;  deputy  commissioner,  $1,500 
and  12  factory  inspectors,  salaries  $1,000;  i  factory  inspector, 
salary  $1,200. 
J.  D.  Beck,  Commissioner,  Madison. 

Factory  Inspectors. 
J.  E.  Vallier,  Milwaukee.  H.  P.  Peterson,  Superior. 

Miss  E.  Kunz,  Milwaukee.  August  Lehnhoff,  La  Crosse. 

D.  Wittenberg,  Milwaukee.  August  Kaems,  Sheboygan. 

Wm.  Straub,  Milwaukee.  T.  A.  Walby,  Hudson. 

J.  A.  Norris,  Appleton.  C.  S.  Porter,  Fox  Lake. 

J.  R.  Bloom,  Neenah.  D.  D.  Evans,  Racine. 

b.  School  Officials. 
Colorado — ^Truant  officers  appointed  and  salaries  fixed  by  board  of  school  direc- 
tors ;  vested  with  police  powers  and  with  authority  to  enter  work- 
shops, factories  and  all  other  places  where  children  may  be  em- 
ployed, in  the  way  of  investigation  or  otherwise. 
Connecticut — ^Agents  appointed  by  state  board  of  education  for  terms  of  not 
more  than  one  year,  salaries  not  to  exceed  $5  a  day,  including 
expenses.     The  school  visitors  or  town  school  committee  in 
every  town,  shall  once  or  more  in  every  year  examine  into  the 
situation  of  children  employed  in  all  manufacturing  establish- 
ments, and  ascertain  whether  all  provisions  of  the  law  are  ob- 
served, and  report  all  violations  to  proper  prosecuting  authority. 

34 


Montana— Truant  officers,  appointed  and  salary  fixed  by  school  board.    Vested 
with  police  powers,  with  authority  to  serve  warrants  and  to  enter 
workshops,  factories,  stores  and  all  other  places  where  children  may 
be  employed. 
New  Hampshire — State   Superintendent    of   Public   Instruction,    and   deputies 
appointed  by    superintendent,  necessary    expenses    to    he 
allowed  by  Governor   and   council.     Also   truant    officers 
appointed  by  district  school  boards  and  paid  by  towns. 
North  Dakota — Truant  officer  appointed  by  board  of  education  in  any  city  of 
more  than  5,000  inhabitants,  or  by  president  of  school  board 
of  any  district. 
South  Dakota — District    school    board,   chairman    of  board  of  education    in 

independent  districts,  or  county  superintendent. 
Vermont — Town  Superintendent,  appointed  and  compensation  fixed  by  boards 
of  school  directors.    Truant  officers,  two  to  be  appointed  by  select- 
men of  a  town  and  mayor  of  a  city;  salary  at  rate  of  $2  a  day  for 
time  actually  spent. 

No  Special  Officials  for  Inspection  or  Enforcement 

Alabama  Indian  Territory  (has  no  law) 

Alaska  Mississippi 

Arizona  (has  no  law)  Nevada  (has  no  law) 

Arkansas  New  Mexico  (has  no  law) 

District  of  Columbia  (has  no  law)  Oklahoma  (has  no  law) 

Florida  (has  no  law)  South  Carolina 

Georgia  Texas 

Hawaii  (has  no  law)  Utah  i 

Idaho  Wyoming 

PROSECUTIONS 

The  degree  to  which  prosecution  is  used  as  a  means  of  enforcement  varies 
greatly  in  the  different  states.  Some  officials  report  few  prosecutions  by  reason 
of  the  recent  date  of  their  child  labor  laws. 

No  attempt  is  made  to  give  the  number  of  prosecutions  in  states  where  child 
labor  laws  are  enforced  by  school  authorities  only. 

The  honorable  record  of  Illinois  is  appended  to  show  the  most  effective 
prosecution  since   1895. 

California — 16  prosecutions;  several  cases  pending;  fines  $150. 
Delaware — No  prosecutions. 
Illinois —  Prosecutions  Fines 

1895 327  $1,127.00 

1896 520  886.47  i 

1897 535  3,572.25 

1898 1 ,006  8,800.45 

1899 940  13,068.55 

1900 1,386  • 

1901 725  8,987.60 

1902 1,198  7»537-03 

1903- 10,375.00 

1904 1,311  10,659.90 

1905 994  8,508.20 

Indiana — 1 7  prosecutions ;  fines  $230.20  (cases  pending). 

Iowa — No  prosecutions. 

Kansas — No  prosecutions. 

Kentucky — 5  prosecutions;  fines  $50     (cases  pending). 

$S 


Prosecutions — Continued. 

Maine — No  prosecutions. 

Massachusetts — No  answer  to  inquiry. 

Michigan — 8  prosecutions;  fines  $87.80. 

Minnesota — 7  prosecutions;  fines  $150. 

Missouri — 12  prosecutions;  fines  $150. 

Nebraska — No  prosecutions. 

New  Jersey — 13  prosecutions;  fines  $692.22. 

New  York — 200  prosecutions;  fines  $800. 

North  CaroHna — No  answer  to  inquiry. 

Ohio — 311  prosecutions;  fines  $3,190. 

Oregon — 2  prosecutions. 

Pennsylvania — 40  prosecutions. 

Rhode  Island— No  prosecutions. 

Tennessee — No  answer  to  inquiry. 

Washington — No  prosecutions. 

West  Virginia — 35  prosecutions;  fines  $350. 

Wisconsin — 43  prosecutions;  fines  $735.  ■ 

PENALTIES 

The  penalties  for  infringement  of  the  child  labor  laws  fall  under  two  heads : 
Penalties  for  the  employer  and  penalties  for  the  parent  or  guardian. 

Penalty  for  Employer  for  Employing  Child  under  Age  (a)  and  Over  Time  (b) 

Fines  Only. 

Alabama — Not  more  than  $200. 

Arkansas — Not  more  than  $500. 

Connecticut — Not  more  than  $20  for  each  offense. 

Georgia — Usual  penalty  for  misdemeanor. 

Illinois — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100  for  each  offense  and  to  stand 
committed  until  such  fines  and  costs  are  paid. 

Kentucky — Not  more  than  $50  for  first  offense,  and  not  more  than  $200  for 
second  offence. 

Maine — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 

Maryland — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $50  and  after  notification  by  in- 
spector or  attendance  officer,  not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than 
$20,  for  each  day  of  employment. 

Minnesota — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 

Montana — Not  more  than  $1,000  for  mines  or  any  similar  business.  Applying 
to  (b). 

Nebraska — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offence,  provided  that 
no  conviction  shall  be  had  under  this  act  unless  the  proceedings 
shall  be  commenced  within  one  year  after  the  offense  shall  have 
been  committed.     Applying  to  (a). 

New  Hampshire — Not  more  than  $50  for  the  use  of  the  district  for  each  offense. 

New  Jersey — $50  for  each  offense. 

North  Dakota — Not  less  than  $10  and  not  more  than  $100. 

Rhode  Island — Not  more  than  $500.  Applying  to  (a).  Not  more  than  $20  for 
each  offense.     Applying  to  (b). 

South  Dakota — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $100. 

Tennessee — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $250.     Applying  to  (a). 

Texas — Not  less  than  $50  and  not  more  than  $200,  each  day  of  violating  act  to 
constitute  a  separate  offen-se.     Applying  to  (a). 

Vermont — $50  for  each  offense. 

Virginia — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $100, 

Wisconsin — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $100  for  each  offense. 

36 


Fines  or  Imprisonment 

California — Not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200,  or  by  imprisonment  for  not 
more  than  60  days,    or  by  both  such  fine   and   imprisonment  for 
each  offense. 
Colorado — Not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $500  and  imprisonment  in  the  county 
jail  not  less  than  30  days  nor  more   than   3  months.     Applying  to 
(a). 
Indiana — Not  more  than  $50  for  the  first  offense,  and  not  more  than   $100  for 
the  second  offense  to  which  may  be  added   imprisonment  for   not 
more  than  ten  days  and  for   the  third    offense  not   less  than    $250, 
and  not  more  than  30  days'  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail.     Apply- 
ing to  (a). 
Iowa — Not  more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  30  days. 
Kansas — Not  less  than  $25    nor  more  than  $100,  or   imprisonment  for  not   less 

than  30,  nor  more  than  90  days. 
Louisiana — $100  for  each  offense    or  imprisonment  in   the  parish  jail  not    more 

than  30  days,  or  both,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 
Massachusetts — Not   more   than   $300   or   imprisonment   for  not  more  than    6 
months    and    for   every  day    thereafter,    after  notification  by 
truant  officer  or   inspector  of    factories,  not  less  than  $20  nor 
more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  6  months, 
Michigan — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100,  or  imprisonment  for  not  less 
than  10  nor  more  than  90  days  or  both  at  discretion  of  the  court. 
Missouri — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  in  the  county 
jail  for  not  less  than  2  nor  more  than  10  days  or  both,  for  each 
offense.     Applying  to  (a). 
New  York — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $100  for  first  offense;  for  second 
offense  not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200  or  imprisonment  for 
not  more  than  30  days,  or  both;  for  third  offense  not  less  than 
$250  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  30  days,  or  both. 
North  Carolina — Punishment  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 
Ohio — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $50  or  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  10 

nor  more  than  30  days. 
Oregon — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $25  for  first  offense,  not  less  than  $25 
nor  more  than  $50  for  second  and  imprisonment   for  not  less  than  10 
nor  more  than  30  days  for  third  and  each  succeeding  offense. 
Pennsylvania — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $500,  or  imprisonment  for  not 

less  than  ip  days  or  more  than  60  days  for  each  offense. 
South  Carolina — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more   than  $50,  or   imprisonment  for 

not  more  than  30  days  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 
Washington — Not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $100,  or  imprisonment  in   the 
county  jail  for  not  more  than  one  month  for  each  offense.     Ap- 
plying to  (a). 
West  Virginia^Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $20  for  each  offense.     For 
employment  in  coal  mines,  not   less  than  $50  nor    more  than 
$500.     In  default  of  payment,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court, 
imprisonment  in  county  jail  for  not  more  than  3  months. 

Penalty  for  Employer  for  Employing  Child  During  School  Hours 

Fines  Only 

Connecticut — $20  for  every  week  such  child  is  so  employed. 
Colorado — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $50. 

Illinois — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100  for  each  offense  and  to  stand  com- 
mitted until  such  fine  and  costs  are  paid. 
Massachusetts — Not  more  than  $50  for  the  first  offense  and  for  every  day  there- 
after, after  notification  by  truant  officer  or  by  inspector  of 
factories,  fine^of  not  less'than  $5  nor  more  than  $20. 

^7 


Minnesota — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 

Missouri — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  and  costs. 

Montana — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 

New  Hampshire — Not  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 

New  York — $50  for  each  offense. 

North  Dakota — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  and  costs  for  each  offense. 

South  Dakota — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $20  and  costs  for  each  offense. 

Vermont — Not  more  than  $50. 

Washington — Not  more  than  $25. 

West  Virginia — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $20  for  each  offense. 

Fines  or  Imprisonment 

Ohio — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $50  or  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  10 
nor  more  than  30  days. 

Oregon — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $25  for  first  offense,  not  less  than  $25 
nor  more  than  $50  for  second,  and  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  10 
nor  more  than  30  days  for  third  and  each  succeeding  offense. 

Penalty  for  Employer  for  Neglecting  (a)  to  Keep  File  of  Age  and  Schooling 

Certificates  and  (b)  to  Produce  Them  for  the  Inspection  of  the 

School  Authorities  or  Factory  Inspectors 

Fines  Only 

Alabama — Not  more  than  $200.     Applying  to  (a). 

Arkansas — Not  more  than  $500.     Applying  to  (a). 

Connecticut — Not  more  than  $100. 

Illinois — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $50. 

Kentucky — Not  more  than  $50  for  first  offense  and  not  more  than  $200  for 
second  offense. 

Maine — Failure  to  produce  age  certificate  is  prima  facie  evidence  that  the  employ- 
ment of  the  child  for  whom  it  is  demanded,  is  illegal. 

Massachusetts — Failure  to  produce  or  to  have  Hsted  age  and  schooling  certificate, 
shall  be  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  illegal  employment  of  any 
•    child  whose  certificate  is  not  produced  or  name  not  listed. 

Maryland — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $50  for  the  first  offense  and  for  every 
day  thereafter,  after  notification  by  an  attendance  officer,  or  in- 
spector, not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $20.  Failure  to  produce 
age  or  schooling  certificate  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence  of  the 
illegal  employment  of  the  child  whose  certificate  is  not  produced. 

Minnesota — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $50,  for  each  offense.  Failure  to 
produce  age  or  school  certificate  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence 
of  the  illegal  employment  of  the  child  for  whom  it  is  not  produced. 

Missouri — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  and  costs. 

Montana — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 

Nebraska — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense,  provided  that 
no  conviction  shall  be  had  under  this  act  unless  the  proceedings 
therefor  shall  be  commenced  within  one  year  after  the  offense 
shall  have  been  committed.     Applying  to  (a). 

New  Hampshire — Not  more  than  $50  for  each  offense.     Applying  to  (a). 

New  Jersey — $50  for  each  offense. 

Rhode  Island — Not  more  than  $500. 

Vermont — Not  more  than  $50. 

Wisconsin — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $100  for  each  offense. 

Fines  or  Imprisonment 

California — Not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200  or  imprisonment  of  not  more 
than  60  days,  or  both  fine  and  imprisonment. 

38 


Indiana — Not  more  than  $50  for  first  offense  and  not  more  than  $100  for  second 

offense  to  which  may  be  added  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  10 

days,  and  for  third  offense  fine  of  not  less  than  $250  and  not  more 

than  30  days'  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail. 

Iowa— Not  more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  30  days. 

Louisiana — $100  for  each  offense  or  imprisonment  in  the  parish  jail  not    more 

than  30  days,  or  both  at  discretion  of  court. 

Michigan — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100,  or  imprisonment  for  not  less 

than  10  days  nor  more  than  90  days,  or  both  at  discretion  of  court. 

New  York — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $100  for  first  offense;  for  second 

offense  not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200  or  imprisonment  for 

not  more  than  30  days,  or  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment;  for 

third  offense  not  less  than  $250  or  imprisonment  for  not  more 

than  60  days  or  both  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Ohio — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $50  or  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  10 

nor  more  than  30  days. 
Oregon — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $25  for  first  offense,  not  less  than  $25 
nor  more  than  $50  for  second,  and  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  10 
nor  more  than  30  days  for  each  succeeding  offense. 
Pennsylvania — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $500,  or  imprisonment  for  not 
less  than  10  days  nor  more  than  60  days  for  each  offense. 

Penalty  for  Employer  for  Employment  of  Illiterates  Who  Do  Not  Go  to  Night 

School 

Fines  Only 

Colorado — Not  less  than  $25  and  not  more  than  $100. 

Connecticut — Not  more  than  $50. 

Illinois — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100  and  to  stand   committed  until 

such  fines  and  costs  are  paid. 
Maryland — Not  more  than  $100  for  each  offense. 
Minnesota — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50. 
New  Hampshire — Not  more  than  $20. 
New  York — $50  for  each  offense. 

Fines  or  Imprisonment 

California — Not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200,  or  imprisonment  for  not  more 
than  60  days,  or  both  fine  and  imprisonment  for  each  offense. 

Michigan — Not  less  than  $5  and  not  more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  for  not  less 
than  10  nor  more  than  90  days,  or  both,  in  the  discretion  of  the 
court. 

Penalty  for  Employer  for  Refusing  Entrance  to  or  Obstructing  Factory  In- 
spectors or  School  Authorities. 

Fines  Only 

CaHfomia — Not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200. 

Illinois — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100  for  each  offense  and  to  stand  com- 
mitted until  such  fines  and  costs  are  paid. 
Maine — $50. 

Maryland — Not  less  than  $50  for  each  offense. 
Missouri — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $100. 
New  Jersey — $50  for  each  offense. 
Pennsylvania — Not  more  than  $500. 
Rhode  Island — Not  more  than  $10. 
Wisconsin — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $100  for  each  offense. 

39 


Fines  or  Imprisonment 

Indiana — Not  more  than  $50  for  first  offense  and  not  more  than  $100  for  second 

offense  to  which  may  be  added  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  10 

days,  and  for  third  offense  fine  of  not  less  than  $250  and  not  more 

than  30  days'  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail. 

Iowa — Not  more  than  $100  and  costs  of  prosecution  or  imprisonment  in  the 

county  jail  not  exceeding  30  days. 
Kentucky — Not  more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  not  more  than  6  months  or 

both  fine  and  imprisonment  at  discretion  of  jury. 
Michigan — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  for  not  less  than 

10  nor  more  than  90  days,  or  both,  at  discretion  of  court. 

New  York — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $100  for  first  offense,  for  second 

offense  not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200  or  imprisonment  for 

not  more  than  30  days,  or  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment;  for 

third  offense  not  less  than  $250,  or  imprisonment  for  not   more 

than  30  days,  or  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Oregon — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $25  for  first  offense,  not  less  than  $25 

nor  more  than  $50  for  second  offense,  and  imprisonment  for  not  less 

than  10  nor  more  than  30  days  for  third  and  each  succeeding  offense. 

Penalty  for  Parent  for  Allowing  Child  to  Be  Employed  Under  Age  (a)  or, 

Over  Time  (b) 

Fines  Only 

Alabama — Not  more  than  $200. 
Arkansas — Not  more  than  $500. 
Connecticut — Not  more  than  $60  and  every  week  of  such  employment  to  be  a 

distinct  offense. 
Georgia — ^Usual  penalty  for  misdemeanor. 
Illinois — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $25  and  to  stand  committed  until  such 

fines  and  costs  are  paid. 
Kentucky — Not  more  than  $50  for  first  offense,  and  not  more  than  $200  for  sec- 
ond offense. 
Maine — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 
Maryland — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $50  and  for  every  day  thereafter, 
after  notification  by  inspector  or  attendance  officer,  not  less  than 
$5  nor  more  than  $20. 
Massachusetts — Not  more  than  $50  for  the  first  offense,  and  for  every  day  there- 
after that  employment  continues,  after  notification  by  a  truant 
officer  or  by  an  inspector  of  factories,  fine  of  not  less  than  $5 
nor  more  than  $20  for  (a) ;  not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than 
$100  for  (b). 
Mmnesota — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 
Nebraska — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense,  provided  that 
no  conviction  shall  be  had  unless  the  proceedings  therefor  shall  be 
commenced  within  one  year  after  the  offense  shall  have  been  com- 
mitted.    Applying  to  (a). 
New  Jersey — $50  for  each  offense. 
Oregon — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $25. 
Pennsylvania — Not  more  than  $500. 
Rhode  Island — Not  more  than  $20  for  each  offense.     Applying  to  (b). 

Fines  or  Imprisonment 

California — Not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200  or  imprisonment  of  not  more 

than  60  days,  or  both,  for  each  offense. 
Iowa — Not  more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  30  days. 

40 


Michigan — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100,  or  imprisonment  for  not  less 

than  10  nor  more  than  90  days  or  both  at  discretion  of  court. 
Missouri — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $100,  or  imprisonment  in  county  jail 
for  not  less  than  2  nor  more  than  10  days  or  both,  for  each  offense. 
Applying  to  (a). 
South  Carolina — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $50,  or  imprisonment  for  not 
more  than  30  days,  at  discretion  of  court.     Applying  to  (a). 
Vermont — Not  more  than  $50,  and  for  violation  after  being  notified  by  truant 
officer,  not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $20  for  each  day  of  such 
violation. 
West  Virginia — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $20  for  each  offense.     Applying 
to  (a). 

Penalty  for  Parent  for  Allowing  Illiterate  Child  to  Be  Employed  Without 
Attending  Day  or  Night  School 

Fines  Only 

Maryland — Not  more  than  $20. 

Minnesota — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 

New  Hampshire — Not  more  than  $20. 

Fines  or  Imprisonment 

Michigan — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100,  or  imprisonment  for  not  less 
than  10  nor  more  than  90  days,  or  both,  at  discretion  of  court. 

Penalty  for  Making  Any  False  Statements  in  an  Age  or  Schooling  Certificate 

Fines  Only 

Connecticut — Not  more  than  $20. 
Georgia — Usual  penalty  for  misdemeanor. 

Illinois — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100  for  each  offense  and  to  stand  com- 
mitted until  such  fine  and  costs  are  paid. 
Kentucky — Usual  punishment  for  perjury. 
Maine — $100. 

Massachusetts — Not  more  than  $50. 
Minnesota — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50. 
New  Hampshire — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 
New  Jersey — $50  for  each  offense. 

North  Dakota — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  and  costs. 
Oregon — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $50. 
South  Dakota — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $20. 
Vermont — Not  more  than  $50. 

Fines  or  Imprisonment 

Alabama — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $100,  or  hard  labor  for  term  not  ex- 
ceeding 3  months.     To  be  tried  before  some  justice  of  the  peace  or 
other  court  or  officer  having  jurisdiction  for  trial. 
Arkansas — Usual  punishment  for  perjury. 
CaUfomia — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $50,  or  imprisonment  for  not  more 

than  30  days,  or  both  fine  and  imprisonment. 
Iowa — Not  more  than  $100  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  30  days. 
Maryland — Not  more  than  $50  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  30  days,  or 

both,  at  discretion  of  the  court. 
New  York — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $100  for  first  offense;  for  second 
offense,  not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $200,  or  imprisonment 
for  not  more  than  30  days,  or  both;  for  third  offense  not  less  than 
$250,  or  imprisonment  of  not  more  than  60  days,  or  both. 
North  Carolina — Punishment  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 


Pennsylvania — Not  less  than  $25  nor  more  than  $500,  or  imprisonment  for  not 

less  than  10  nor  more  than  60  days. 
South  Carolina — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $50,  or  imprisonment  for  not 

more  than  30  days  at  discretion  of  the  court. 
Tennessee — Punishment  usual  for  perjury. 

2.  THE  COMPULSORY  EDUCATION  LAWS 

Almost  all  of  the  states  having  compulsory  education  laws  provide  for  their 
enforcement  by  authorizing  the  appointment  of  one  or  more  truant  officers  in 
each  school  district.  These  officers  are  usually  appointed  by  the  school  authori- 
ties; they  must  notify  parents  of  violations  of  compulsory  education  laws,  and 
are  given  police  powers  for  the  arrest  of  truants.  Their  salaries  are  usually 
fixed  by  the  boards  appointing  them  and  vary  from  no  compensation  to  $2  for 
each  working  day. 

Penalty  for  Parent  for  Failure  to  Send  Children  to  School 

Fines  Only 

Connecticut — Not  more  than  $5,  each  week's  failure  to  be  a  distinct  offense. 

District  of  Columbia — Not  more  than  $20. 

Idaho — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $25  for  the  first  offense ;  not  less  than  $10 

nor  more  than  $50  for  the  second  and  each  subsequent  offense;  besides 

costs. 
Illinois — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $20  and  costs  and  to  stand  committed 

imtil  paid. 
Iowa — Not  less  than  $3  nor  more  than  $20  for  each  offense. 
Kansas — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $25. 
Maine — Not  more  than  $25  for  each  offense. 
Maryland — Not  more  than  $$  for  each  offense. 
Massachusetts — Not  more  than  $20. 

Minnesota — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $25  for  the  first  offense. 
Montana — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $20. 
Nebraska — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $20. 
Nevada — Not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $100  for  the  first  offense,  not  less  than 

$100  nor  more  than  $200  for  subsequent  offenses. 
New  Hampshire — $10  for  first  offense;  $20  for  each  subsequent  offense. 
North  Dakota — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $20  for  the  first  offense,  not  less 
than  $10  nor  more  than  $50  for  subsequent  offenses  and  costs. 
Oregon — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $25. 
Rhode  Island — Not  more  than  $20  for  each  offense. 
South  Dakota — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $20  for  each  offense  and  to 

stand  committed  until  fine  and  costs  are  paid. 
Vermont — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $25. 
Washington — Not  less  than  $20  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 
West  Virginia — $2  for  first  offense  and  $5  for  each  subsequent  offense. 
Wisconsin — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $50  for  each  offense. 

Fines  or  Imprisonment 

California — Not  more  than  $10,  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  5  days  for 

first  offense,  for  subsequent  offenses,  not  less  than  $10  nor  more 

than  $50,  or  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  5  nor  more  than  25 

days,  or  both  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Colorado — Not  less  than  $5  or  more  than  $20,  or  court  may  require  parent  or 

guardian  to  give  bond  of  $100,  with  sureties  to  the  approval  of 

Judge  of  county  court,  conditioned  that  he  or  she  will  cause  child 

to  attend  some  recognized  school  within  5  days  after  and  to  remain 

during  term  prescribed  by  law.     Upon  failure  to  pay  fine  or  furnish 

bond,  parent  or  guardian  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  county  court  not 

less  than  10  day  nor  more  than  30  days. 

4« 


Indiana — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $25,  and  in  discretion  of  court,  im- 
prisonment in  county  jail  for  not  less  than  2  nor  more  than  90  days. 
Michigan — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $50,  or  imprisonment  in  county  or 
city  jail  for  not  less  than  2  nor  more  than  90  days,  or  both  fine  and 
imprisonment. 
Missouri — Not  less  than  $10  nor  more  than  $25,  or  imprisonment  for  not  less 
than  2  nor  more  than  10  days,  provided  that  sentence  may  be  re- 
mitted if  child  is  immediately  placed  and  kept  in  school. 
New  Jersey — Punishable  as  a  disorderly  person. 
New  Mexico — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $25,  or  imprisonment  for  not  more 

than  10  days. 
New  York — Not  more  than  $5  for  first  offense  and  for  each  subsequent  offense 
not  more  than  $50,  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  30  days  or 
both  fine  and  imprisonment. 
Ohio — Not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  $20,  or  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  10 

nor  more  than  30  days. 
Pennsylvania — Not  more  than  $2  for  first  offense  and  not  more  than  $5  for  each 
subsequent  offense,  and  in  default  imprisonment  for  not  more 
than  2  days  for  first  offense  and  not  more  than  5  days  for  each 
subsequent  offense. 


43 


WHAT  CONSTITUTES  EFFECTIVE  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS. 

Effective  legislation  dealing  with  child-labor  involves  many  differing  elements 
including  the  child,  the  parent,  the  employer,  the  officials  charged  with  the  duty 
of  enforcing  the  statutes,  and  finally  the  community  which  enacts  laws,  provides 
schools  for  the  children  when  they  are  prohibited  from  working,  supports  and 
authorizes  officers  for  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,  prescribes  penalties  for  their 
violation,  assists  dependent  families  in  which  the  children  are  below  the  legal  age 
for  work.  In  the  long  run,  the  effectiveness  of  the  law  depends  upon  the  con- 
science of  the  community  as  a  whole  far  more  than  upon  the  parent  and  the 
employer  acting  together. 

"With  the  foregoing  reservations  and  qualifications  duly  emphasized,  the  fol- 
lowing summaries  are  believed  to  outline  the  substance  of  the  effective  legislation 
which  it  seems  reasonable  to  try  to  secure  in  the  present  and  the  immediate  future. 
They  deal  only  with  provisions  for  the  child  as  a  child,  taking  for  granted  the  pro- 
visions for  fire-escapes,  safeguards  for  machines,  toilet  facilities  and  all  those 
things  which  the  child  shares  with  the  adult  worker. 

An  effective  child-labor  law  rests  primarily  upon  certain  definite  pro- 
hibitions among  which  are  the  following : 

Labor  Is  Prohibited 

(i)  for  all  children  under  the  age  of  fourteen  years, 

(2)  for  all  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  who  do  not  measure  sixty 

inches  and  weigh  eighty  pounds,* 

(3)  for  all  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  who  cannot  read  fluently  and 

write  legibly  simple  sentences  in  the  English  language, 

(4)  for  all  children  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  between  the  hours  of  7 

p.  m.  and  7  a.  m, ,  or  longer  than  eight  hours  in  any  twenty-four  hours, 
or  longer  than  forty-eight  hours  in  any  week, 

(5)  for  all  children  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  in  occupations  dangerous 

to  life,  limb,  health  or  morals. 

The  Child 
Effective  legislation  requires  that  before  going  to  work  the  child  satisfy  a 
competent  officer  appointed  for  the  purpose,  that  it 
(i)  is  fourteen  years  of  age,  and 

(2)  is  in  good  health,  and 

(3)  measures  at  least  sixty  inches  and  weighs  eighty  pounds,  and 

(4)  is  able  to  read  fluently  and  write  legibly  simple  sentences  in  the  English 

language,  and 

(5)  has  attended  school  a  full  school  year  during  the  twelve  months  next 

preceding  going  to  work 

The  Parent 
Effective  child-labor  legislation  requires  that  the  parent 
(i)  keep  the  child  in  school  to  the  age  of  fourteen  years  and  longer  if  the 
child  has  not  completed  its  required  school  work,  and 


♦This  measure  is  not  now  specified  in  any  statute  though  it  is  implied  in  the  statute  of  New  York,  enacted 
in  1903. 

44 


The  Employer 

(2)  take  oath  as  to  the  exact  age  of  the  child  before  lettmg  it  begin  to  work, 

and 

(3)  substantiate  the  oath  by  producing  a  transcript  of  the  ofhcial  record  of 

the  birth  of  the  child,  or  the  record  of  its  baptism,  or  some  other 
religious  record  of  the  time  of  the  birth  of  the  child,  and  must 

(4)  produce  the  record  of  the  child's  school  attendance,  signed  by  the  prin- 

cipal of  the  school  which  the  child  last  attended. 
Effective  child-labor  legislation  requires  that  the  employer  before  letting  the 
child  begin  to  work, 

(i)  obtain  and  place  on  file  ready  for  official  inspection  papers  showing 
(a)  the  place  and  date  of  birth  of  the  child  substantiated  by 
(6)  the  oath  of  the  parent  corroborated  by 

{c)   a  transcript  of  the  official  register  of  births,  or  by  a  transcript  of 
the  record  of  baptism,  or  other  religious  record  of  the  birth  of 
the  child,  and  by 
{d)  the  school  record  signed  by  the  principal  of  the  school  which  the 

child  last  attended,  and  by 
(e)   the  statement  of  the  officer  of  the  Board  of  Education  or  the 
Board  of   Health  designated  for  the  purpose,  that  he  has 
approved  the  papers  and  examined  the  chiid. 
(2)  After  permitting  the  child  to  begin  to  work,  the  employer  is  required  to 
produce  the  foregoing  papers  on  demand  of  the  school-attendance 
officer,  the  health  officer  and  the  factory  inspectors. 
"  (3)  In  case  the  child  cease  to  work,  the  employer  must  restore  to  the  child 
the  papers  enumerated  above. 

(4)  During  the  time  that  the  child  is  at  work,  the  employer  must  provide 

suitable  seats,  and  permit  their  use  so  far  as  the  nature  of  the  work 
allows ;  and  must 

(5)  post  and  keep  posted  in  a  conspicuous  place,  the  hours  for  beginning 

work  in  the  morning,  and  for  stopping  work  in  the  middle  of  the  day ; 
the  hours  for  resuming  work  and  for  stopping  at  the  close  of  the  day; 
and  all  work  done  at  any  time  not  specified  in  such  posted  notice  con- 
stitutes a  violation  of  the  law.  The  total  number  of  hours  must  not 
exceed  eight  in  any  one  day  or  forty-eight  in  one  week. 

The  Officials 
Effective  legislation  for  the  protection  of  children  requires  that  the  officials 
entrusted  with  the  duty  of  enforcing  it 

(i)  give  their  whole  time,  not  less  than  eight  hours  of  every  working  day,  to 
the  performance  of  their  duties,  making  night  inspections  whenever 
this  may  be  necessary  to  insure  that  children  are  not  working  during 
the  prohibited  hours ;  and 

(2)  treat  all  employers  alike,  irrespective  of  political  considerations,  of  race, 

religion  or  power  in  a  community ; 

(3)  prosecute  all  violations  of  the  law; 

(4)  keep  records  complete  and  intelligible  enough  to  facilitate  the  enactment 

of  legislation  suitable  to  the  changing  conditions  of  industry. 

The  School 
The  best  child-labor  law  is  a  compulsory  education  law  covering  forty  weeks 
of  the  year  and  requiring  the  consecutive  attendance  of  all  the  children  to  the  age 
of  fourteen  years,  and  until  sixteen  years,  unless  they  have  meanwhile  completed 
a  specified  portion  of  the  curriculum,  as  eight  years  in  Colorado  or  five  years  in 
New  York.  It  is  never  certain  that  children  are  not  at  work,  if  they  are  out  of 
school.  In  order  to  keep  the  children,  however,  it  is  not  enough  to  compel 
attendance — ^the  schools  must  be  modified  and  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the 

45    J 


recent  immigrants  in  the  North  and  of  the  poor  whites  in  the  South,  afford- 
ing instruction  which  appeals  to  the  parents  as  worth  having,  in  Heu  of  the  wages 
which  the  children  are  forbidden  to  earn,  and  appeals  to  the  children  as  interest- 
ing and  attractive.  No  system  of  child-labor  legislation  can  be  regarded  as 
effective  which  does  not  face  and  deal  with  these  facts. 

The  vacation  school  and  camp  promise  reinforcement  of  the  child-labor 
laws ;  which  are  now  seriously  weakened  by  the  fact  that  the  long  vacation  leaves 
idle  upon  the  streets  children  whom  employers  covet  by  reason  of  the  low  price 
of  their  labor,  while  parents,  greedy  for  the  children's  earnings  and  anxious 
lest  the  children  suffer  from  the  life  of  the  streets,  eagerly  seek  work  for  them. 
Nothing  could  be  worse  for  the  physique  of  the  school  child  than  being  compelled 
to  work  during  the  summer;  and  the  development  of  the  vacation  school  and 
vacation  camp  alone  seems  to  promise  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem 
of  the  vacation  of  the  city  child  of  the  working  class. 

The  Community 
Effective  child-labor  legislation  places  upon  the  community  many  duties, 
among  which  are 

(i)  maintaining   officials — ^men   and    women — school-attendance    officers, 
health  officers,  and  factory  inspectors,  all  of  whom  need 

(a)  salary  and  traveling  expenses, 

(b)  access  at  all  reasonable  times  to  the  places  where  children  are 

employed, 
{c)  power  to  prosecute  all  violations  of  the  statutes  affecting  working 

children, 
(d)  tenure  of  office  so  effectively  assured  that  they  need  not  fear 

removal  from  office  in  consequence  of  prosecuting  powerful 

offenders; 

(2)  maintaining  schools  in  which  to  educate  the  children  who  are  prohibited 

from  working; 

(3)  maintaining  vital  statistics,  especially  birth  records,  such  that  the  real 

age  of  native  children  may  be  readily  ascertained; 

(4)  maintaining  provision  for  the  adequate  relief  of  dependent  families  in 
\  which  the  children  are  not  yet  of  legal  age  for  beginning  work. 

More  important,  however,  than  the  enactment  of  the  foregoing  provisions  is 
the  maintenance  in  the  community  of  a  persistent,  lively  interest  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  child-labor  statutes.  Without  such  interest,  judges  do  not  enforce 
penalties  against  offending  parents  and  employers;  inspectors  become  discour- 
aged and  demoralized;  or  faithful  officers  are  removed  because  they  have  no 
organized  backing,  while  some  group  of  powerful  industries  clamors  that  the  law^ 
is  injuring  its  interest.  Well-meaning  employers  grow  careless,  infractions  be- 
come the  rule,  and  workingmen  form  the  habit  of  thinking  that  laws  inimical  to 
their  interest  are  enforced,  while  those  framed  in  their  interest  are  broken  with 
imptmity. 

Upon  parents  there  presses  incessant  poverty,  urging  them  to  seek  opportuni- 
ties for  wage-earning,  even  for  the  youngest  children;  and  upon  the  em- 
ployers presses  incessant  competition,  urging  them  to  reduce  the  pay-roll  by  all 
means,  fair  and  foul.  No  law  enforces  itself;  and  no  officials  can  enforce  a  law 
which  depends  upon  them  alone.  It  is  only  when  they  are  consciously  the  agents 
of  the  will  of  the  people  that  they  can  make  the  law  really  protect  the  children 
effectively. 


46 


A  STANDARD  CHILD  LABOR  LAW. 

\  The  best  provisions  of  the  law  of  New  York,  Illinois  and  Massachusetts  have  been    included 
16  Standard  Child  Labor  Law  which  follows: 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 
pUed  Sec.   i.  No  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  shall  be  employed.  Child    Under 

permitted  or  suffered  to  work  in  or  in  connection  with  any  factory,   i4  Years 

York      workshop,   mercantile   establishment,   store,   business  office,  telegraph 

antile^       office,  restaurant,  hotel,  apartment  house  or  in  the  distribution  or  trans- 

,lish-         mission  of  merchandise  or  messages.     It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  person, 

s  firm  or  corporation  to  employ  any  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age 

®^  in  any  business  or  service  whatever,  during  any  part  of  the  term  during 

which  the  public  schools  of  the  district  in  which  the  child  resides  are 

in  session. 

York  Sec.  2.  No  child  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age  shall  Child    Under 

mlsory      be  employed,  permitted  or  suffered  to  work  in  any  factory,  workshop   ^^  Years, 
ation        or  mercantile  establishment  unless  the  person  or  corporation  employing 
of  1903,  j^^j^  procures  and  keeps  on  file  and  accessible  to  the  truant  officers  of 
''  the  town  or  city,  and  to  the  inspectors  of  factories,  an  employment 

tiled  certificate  as  hereinafter  prescribed,  and  keeps  two  complete  lists  of 
all  such  children  employed  therein,  one  on  file  and  one  conspicuously 
ftts  law  P^^^^^  ^^^^  "^^^  principal  entrance  of  the  building  in  which  such  children 
are  employed.  On  termination  of  the  employment  of  a  child  so  regis- 
!  York  tered,  and  whose  certificate  is  so  filed,  such  certificate  shall  be  forth- 
'ry  with  surrendered  by  the  employer  to  the  child  or  its  parent  or  guar- 

of  1903.  ^[^Yi  or  custodian.     The  inspector  of  factories  may  make  demand  on  an 

employer  in  whose  factory  a  child  apparently  under  the  age  of  sixteen  Child 
years  is  employed  or  permitted  or  suffered  to  work,  and  whose  employ-  nnder^i6 
ment  certificate  is  not  then  filed  as  required  by  this  article,  that  such  years. 
1^°^^      employer  shall  either  furnish  him  within  ten  days,  evidence  satisfactory 
'Of  1905,  ^^  ^^^  ^^^"^  such  child  is  in  fact  over  sixteen  years  of  age, or  shall  cease 
to  employ  or  permit  or  suffer  such  child  to  work  in  such  factory.     The 
inspector  of  factories  may  require  from  such  employer  the  same  evidence 
of  age  of  such  child  as  is  required  on  the  issuance  of  an  employment 
certificate;  and  the  employer  furnishing  such  evidence  shall  not  be  re- 
quired to  furnish  any  further  evidence  of  the  age  of  the  child.  In  case, 
such  employer  shall  fail  to  produce  and  deliver  to  the  inspector  of  fac- 
tories within  ten  days  after  such  demand  such  evidence  of  age  herein 
required  by  him,  and  shall  thereafter  continue  to  employ  such  child  or 
permit  or  suffer  such  child  to  work  in  such  factory,  proof  of  the  giving 
of  such  notice  and  of  such  failure  to  produce  and  file  such  evidence  shall 
be  prima  facie  evidence  in  any  prosecution  brought  for  a  violation  of 
this  article  that  such  child  is  under  sixteen  years  of  age  and  is  unlawfully 
employed. 

Sec.  3.  An  employment  certificate  shall  be  approved  only  by  the  r^f-fijiff^* 
superintendent  of  schools  or  by  a  person  authorized  by  him  in  writing,  ^y  whom 
or,  where  there  is  no  superintendent  of  schools,  by  a  person  authorized  Approved, 
by  the  school  committee:  provided  that  no  member  of  a  school  com- 
mittee or  other  person  authorized  as  aforesaid  shall  have  authority  to 

47 


■Compiled 

from 

Wew    York 

Factory 

Law  of  1903 

Ch.    184 

and 

Oregon 

Factory   Law 

of    1904. 


approve  such  certificate  for  any  child  then  in  or  about  to  enter  his  own 
employment,  or  the  employment  of  a  firm  or  corporation  of  which  he  is 
a  member,  officer  or  employee. 

Sec.  4.  The  person  authorized  to  issue  employment  certificate 
shall  not  issue  such  certificate  until  he  has  received,  examined,  approved, 
and  filed  the  following  papers  duly  executed:  (i)  The  school  record 
of  such  child  properly  filled  out  and  signed  as  provided  in  this  article. 
(2)  A  passport  or  duly  attested  transcript  of  the  certificate  of  birth  or 
baptism  or  other  rehgious  record,  showing  the  date  and  place  of  birth 
of  such  child.  A  duly  attested  transcript  of  the  birth  certificate  filed 
according  to  law  with  a  registrar  of  vital  statistics,  or  other  officer  charged 
with  the  duty  of  recording  births,  shall  be  conclusive  evidence  of  the  age 
of  such  child.  (3)  The  affidavit  of  the  parent  or  guardian  or  custodian 
of  a  child,  which  shall  be  required,  however,  only  in  case  such  last  men- 
tioned transcript  of  the  certificate  of  birth  be  not  produced  and  filed, 
showing  the  place  and  date  of  birth  of  such  child ;  which  affidavit  must 
be  taken  before  the  officer  issuing  the  employment  certificate,  who  is 
hereby  authorized  and  required  to  administer  such  oath,  and  who  shall 
not  demand  or  receive  a  fee  therefor.  Such  employment  certificate 
shall  not  be  issued  until  such  child  farther  has  personally  appeared 
before  and  been  examined  by  the  officer  issuing  the  certificate,  and  until 
such  officer  shall,  after  making  such  examination,  sign  and  file  in  his  office 
a  statement  that  the  child  can  read  and  legibly  write  simple  sentences  in 
the  English  language  and  that  in  his  opinion  the  child  is  fourteen  years 
of  age  or  upwards  and  has  reached  the  normal  development  of  a  child 
of  its  age,  and  is  in  sound  health  and  is  physically  able  to  perform  the 
work  which  it  intends  to  do.  In  doubtful  cases  such  physical  fitness 
shall  be  determined  by  a  medical  officer  of  the  board  or  department  of 
health.  Every  such  employment  certificate  shall  be  signed,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  officer  issuing  the  same,  by  the  child  in  whose  name  it  is 
issued. 

Sec.  5.  Such  certificate  shall  state  the  date  and  place  of  birth  of  Contcri 
the  child,  and  describe  the  color  of  the  hair  and  eyes,  the  height  and  Certific 
weight  and  any  distinguishing  facial  marks  of  such  child,  and  that  the 
papers  required  by  the  preceding  section  have  been  duly  examined,  ap- 
proved and  filed  and  that  the  child  named  in  such  certificate  has  appeared 
before  the  officer  signing  the  certificate  and  been  examined. 

Sec.  6.  The  school  record  required  by  this  article  shall  be  signed  by 
the  principal  or  chief  executive  officer  of  the  school  which  such  child  has 
attended  and  shall  be  furnished,  on  demand,  to  a  child  entitled  thereto. 
It  shall  contain  a  statement  certifying  that  the  child  has  regularly 
attended  the  public  schools  or  schools  equivalent  thereto  or  parochial 
schools  for  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  days  during  the  school 
year  previous  to  his  arriving  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  or  during  the 
year  previous  to  applying  for  such  school  record  and  is  able  to  read  and 
write  simple  sentences  in  the  English  language,  and  has  received  during 
such  period  instruction  in  reading,  spelling,  writing,  English  grammar 
and  geography  and  is  familiar  with  the  fundamental  operations  of  arith- 
metic up  to  and  including  fractions.  Such  school  record  shall  also  give 
the  age  and  residence  of  the  child  as  shown  on  the  records  of  the  school 
and  the  name  of  its  parent  or  guardian  or  custodian. 

Sec.  7.  The  local  board  of  education  or  the  school  committee  of  a 
city,  village  or  town,  shall  transmit,  between  the  first  and  tenth  day  of 
each  month,  to  the  office  of  the  factory  inspector,  a  list  of  the  names  of 
the  children  to  whom  certificates  have  been  issued. 

48 


ois  Sec.  8.  No  person  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  shall  be  employed  Hours  of 

cry  or  suffered  or  permitted  to  work  at  any  gainful  occupation  more  than  ^^^o^* 

of  1903  forty -eight  hours  in  any  one  week,  nor  more  than  eight  hours  in  any  one 
^°*  day;  or  before  the  hour  of  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  or  after  the 

hour  of  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Every  employer  shall  post  in  a 
conspicuous  place  in  every  room  where  such  minors  are  employed  a 
printed  notice  stating  the  hours  required  of  them  each  day  of  the  week, 
the  hours  of  commencing  and  stopping  work  and  the  hours  when  the 
time  or  times  allowed  for  dinner  or  for  other  meals  begin  and  end. 
The  printed  form  of  such  notice  shall  be  furnished  by  the  State  Inspector 
of  Factories,  and  the  employment  of  any  minor  for  longer  time  in  any 
day  so  stated  shall  be  deemed  a  violation  of  this  section.  Failure    to 

piled  Sec.  9.  Whoever  employs  a  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  Produce 

whoever  having  under  his  control  a  child  under  such  age  permits  such  Certificate, 
'^'  child  to  be  employed  in  violation  of  sections  one,  two,  or  eight  of  this  act, 

^  ^  shall,  for  such  offense,  be  fined  not  more  than  fifty  dollars;  and  whoever 

continues  to  employ  any  child  in  violation  of  either  of  said  sections  of  this 
act  after  being  notified  by  a  truant  officer  or  an  inspector  of  factories 
thereof,  shall  for  every  day  thereafter  that  such  employment  continues, 
be  fined  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  twenty  dollars.  A  failure  to 
produce  to  a  truant  officer  or  inspector  of  factories  any  employment 
certificate  or  list  required  by  this  act  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence  of 
the  illegal  employment  of  any  person  whose  employment  certificate 
is  not  produced  or  whose  name  is  not  so  listed.  Any  corporation  or 
employer  retaining  employment  certificates  in  violation  of  section 
five  of  this  act  shall  be  fined  ten  dollars.  Every  person  authorized  to 
sign  the  certificate  prescribed  by  section  five  of  this  act  who  knowingly 
certifies  to  any  materially  false  statement  therein  shall  be  fined  not  more 
than  fifty  dollars. 

Sec.   10.  Truant  officers  may  visit  the  factories,  workshops  and  I^^^* 
mercantile  establishments  in  their  several  towns  and  cities  and  ascertain  iJ^oect    *° 
whether  any  minors  are  employed  therein  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  Work 
this  act,  and  they  shall  report  any  cases  of  such  illegal   employment  Places. 
to  the  school  committee  and  to  the  inspector  of  factories.     Inspec- 
tors of  factories  and  truant  officers  may  require  that  the  employment 
certificates  and  lists  provided  for  in  this  act,  of  minors  employed  in  such 
factories,  workshops  or  mercantile  establishments,  shall  be  produced 
for  their  inspection.     Complaints  for  offenses  under  this  act  shall  be 
brought  by  inspectors  of  factories. 
8  Sec.  II.  No  child  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  shall  be  employed  Employ- 

^903.      at  sewing  belts,  or  to  assist  in  sewing  belts,  in  any  capacity  whatever;  ??!J*^  ^°^" 
nor  shall  any  child  adjust  any  belt  to  any  machinery ;  they  shall  not  oil  cMdren 
or  assist  in  oiling,  wiping  or  cleaning  machinery;  they  shall  not  operate  Under  16 
or  assist  in  operating  circular  or  band  saws,  wood-shapers,  wood-jointers.  Years  of 
planers,  sandpaper  or  wood-polishing  machinery,  emery  or  polishing  -^S®* 
wheels  used  for  polishing  metal,  wood-turning  or  boring  machinery, 
stamping  machines  in  sheet  metal  and  tinware  manufacturing,  stamping 
machines  in  washer  and  nut  factories,  operating  corrugating  rolls,  such 
as  are  used  in  roofing  factories,  nor  shall  they  be  employed  in  operating 
any  steam  boiler,  steam  machinery,  or  other  steam  generating  appa- 
ratus, or  as  pin  boys  in  any  bowling  alleys ;  they  shall  not  operate  or  assist 
in  operating,  dor^.gh  brakes,  or  cracker  machinery  of  any  description; 
wire  or  iron  straightening  machinery;  nor  shall  they  operate  or  assist 
in  operating  rolling  mill  machinery,  punches  or  shears,  washing,  grinding 
or  mixing  mill  or  calender  rolls  in  rubber  manufacturing,  nor  shall  they 
operate  or  assist  in  operating  laundry  machinery ;  nor  shall  children  be 
employed  in  any  capacity  in  preparing  any   composition  in    which 

49 


dangerous  or  poisonous  acids  are  used,  and  they  shall  not  be  employed 
in  any  capacity  in  the  manufacture  of  paints,  colors  or  white  lead;  nor 
shall  they  be  employed  in  any  capacity  whatever  in  operating  or  assisting 
to  operate  any  passenger  or  freight  elevator ;  nor  shall  they  be  employed 
in  any  capacity  whatever  in  the  manufacture  of  goods  for  immoral 
purposes,  or  any  other  employment  that  may  be  considered  dangerous 
to  their  lives  or  limbs,  or  where  their  health  may  be  injured  or  morals 
depraved;  nor  in  any  theatre,  concert  hall,  or  place  of  amusement  where- 
in intoxicating  liquors  are  sold;  nor  shall  females  under  sixteen  years 
of  age  be  employed  in  any  capacity  where  such  employment  compels 
them  to  remain  standing  constantly. 


AN  ACT  TO  PROVIDE  FOR  THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  PERSONS  RESPONSIBLE 
FOR  OR  CONTRIBUTING  TO  THE  DELINQUENCY  OF  CHILDREN. 

This  valuable  law,  known  as  the  Adult  Delinquency  Law,  is  of  particular 
importance  for  children  working  in  street  trades,  for  messengers  and  delivery 
boys  and  children  whose  work  may  bring  them  into  immoral  or  dangerous  sur- 
roundings. Under  its  provisions,  for  example,  the  saloonkeeper  who  sells  liquors 
to  a  minor,  as  well  as  the  parent  or  employer  who  sends  the  child  to  a  saloon, 
are  liable  as  contributors  to  his  guilt. 

Section  I.  In  all  cases  where  any  child  shall  be  a  delinquent  child  or  a 
juvenile  delinquent  person,  as  defined  by  the  statute  of  this  state,  the  parent  or 
parents,  legal  guardian,  or  person  having  the  custody  of  such  child,  or  any  other 
person,  responsible  for,  or  by  any  act  encouraging,  causing  or  contributing  to  the 
delinquency  of  such  child,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon  trial  and 
conviction  thereon  shall  be  fined  in  a  sum  not  to  exceed  one  thousand  dollars 
($  I,  coo),  or  imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  for  a  period  not  exceeding  one  (i)  year, 
or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment.  The  court  may  impose  conditions  upon 
any  person  found  guilty  under  this  act,  and  so  long  as  such  person  shall  comply 
therewith  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  court  the  sentence  imposed  may  be  sus- 
pended. 


so 


NEWSBOY  LAW 

Various  cities  throughout  the  country — ^such  as  Hartford,  Conn.,  Portland, 
Me.,  Detroit,  Mich.,  etc. — have  ordinances  regarding  the  work  of  children  in 
street  trades,  but  none  of  them  are  so  worded  or  so  enforced  as  to  be  of  any  value. 
Massachusetts  and  New  York  alone  have  state  laws  regulating  the  work  of  news- 
boys. 

The  dangers  of  street  trades  for  young  boys  have  been  ignored  until  within 
the  last  few  years.  Investigation  shows  the  physical  and  moral  injury  which 
these  trades  entail  if  unregulated.  The  worst  evils  are:  i.  Irregularity  of  sleep 
and  meals;  2.  Encouragement  to  truancy  and  defiance  of  parental  control; 
3.  Nightwork;  4.  Introduction  to  many  vices  on  the  street. 

In  every  community,  these  conditions  prevail  unchecked,  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree.  In  the  absence  of  a  more  effective  law,  the  Newsboy  Law  of  New 
York  is  printed  in  full,  with  a  brief  statement  of  the  provisions  in  which  it  is 
excelled  by  the  Massachusetts  law. 

The  method  of  enforcing  the  New  York  law  is  radically  defective.  The 
statute  requires  the  police  to  arrest  offending  newsboys,  and  provides  for  trial 
before  a  court  empowered  to  commit  to  reformatory  institutions.  Three  years' 
experience  proves  that  neither  the  uniformed  nor  the  plain  clothes  police  are 
willing  or  able  to  enforce  this  law.  As  the  act  of  selling  on  the  streets  out  of 
school  hours,  is  a  privilege  which  should  be  granted  to  school  boys  in  good  stand- 
ing, the  enforcement  of  the  law  should  necessarily  be  entrusted  to  the  school 
authorities. 

LAWS  OF  NEW  YORK 

AN  ACT  to  amend  the  labor  law  relating  to  children  working  in  streets  and  pub- 
lic places  in  cities  of  the  first  class  and  second. 
Became  a  law,  April  8,  1903,  with  the  approval  of  the  Governor.     Amended 
1905. 
§   174.  Prohibited  employment  of  children  in  street  trades. — No  male  child 
under  ten,  and  no  girl  under  sixteen  years  of  age  shall,  in  any  city  of  the  first  or 
second  class,  sell  or  expose  or  offer  for  sale  newspapers  in  any  street  or  public 
place. 

§  175.  Permit  and  badge  for  newsboys,  how  issued. — No  male  child  actually 
or  apparently  under  fourteen  years  of  age  shall  sell  or  expose  or  offer  for  sale  said 
articles  unless  a  permit  or  badge  as  hereinafter  provided  shall  have  been  issued  to 
him  by  the  district  superintendent  of  the  board  of  education  of  the  city  and  school 
district  where  said  child  resides,  or  by  such  other  officer  thereof  as  may  be  officially 
designated  by  such  board  for  that  purpose,  on  the  application  of  the  parent, 
guardian  or  other  person  having  the  custody  of  the  child  desiring  such  permit  and 
badge,  or  in  case  said  child  has  no  parent,  guardian  or  custodian,  then  on  the  appli- 
cation of  his  next  friend,  being  an  adult.  Such  permit  and  badge  shall  not  be 
issued  until  the  officer  issuing  the  same  shall  have  received,  examined,  approved 
and  placed  on  file,  in  his  office,  satisfactory  proof  that  such  male  child  is  of  the 
age  of  ten  years  or  upwards.  No  permit  or  badge  provided  for  herein  shall  be 
valid  for  any  purpose  except  during  the  period  in  which  such  proof  shall  remain 
on  file,  nor  shall  such  permit  or  badge  be  authority  beyond  the  period  fixed  therein 
for  its  duration.  After  having  received,  examined,  approved  and  placed  on 
file  such  proof,  the  officer  shall  issue  to  the  child  a  permit  and  badge. 

§  176.  Contents  of  permit  and  badge. — Such  permit  shall  state  the  date  and 
place  of  iDirth  of  the  child,  the  name  and  address  of  its  parent,  guardian,  custodian 
or  next  friend,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  describe  the  color  of  hair  and  eyes,  the 
height  and  weight,  and  any  distingtdshing  facial  mark  of  such  child,  and  shall 

51 


further  state  that  the  proof  required  by  the  preceding  section  has  been  duly- 
examined,  approved  and  filed;  and  that  the  child  named  in  such  permit  has 
appeared  before  the  officer  issuing  the  permit.  The  badge  furnished  by  the 
officer  issuing  the  permit  shall  bear  on  its  face  a  number  corresponding  to  the 
number  of  the  permit,  and  the  name  of  the  child.  Every  such  permit,  and  every 
such  badge,  on  its  reverse  side,  shall  be  signed  in  the  presence  of  the  officer  issuing 
the  same  by  the  child  in  whose  name  it  is  issued. 

§  177.  Regulations  concerning  badge  and  permit.— The  badge  provided  for 
herein  shall  be  worn  conspicuously  at  all  times  by  such  child  while  so  working; 
and  such  permit  and  badge  shall  expire  at  the  end  of  one  year  from  the  date  of 
their  issue.  No  child  to  whom  such  permit  and  badge  are  issued,  shall  transfer 
the  same  to  any  other  person  nor  be  engaged  in  any  city  of  the  first  or  second  class 
as  a  newsboy,  or  shall  sell  or  expose  or  offer  for  sale  newspapers  in  any  street 
or  public  place  without  having  upon  his  person  such  badge,  and  he  shall  exhibit 
the  same  upon  demand  at  any  time  to  any  police,  or  attendance  officer. 

§  178.  Badge  and  permit  to  be  surrendered. — The  parent,  guardian,  custo- 
dian or  next  friend,  as  the  case  may  be,  of  every  child  to  whom  such  permit  and 
badge  shall  be  issued,  shall  surrender  the  same  to  the  authority  by  which  said 
permit  and  badge  are  issued,  at  the  expiration  of  the  period  provided  therefor. 

§  179.  Limit  of  hours. — No  child  to  whom  a  permit  and  badge  are  issued 
as  provided  for  in  the  preceding  sections,  shall  sell  or  expose  or  offer  for  sale,  any 
newspapers  after  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

§  179a.  Violation  of  this  article,  how  punished. — Any  child  who  shall  work 
in  any  city  of  the  first  or  second  class  in  any  street  or  public  place  as  a  newsboy  or 
shall  sell  or  expose  or  offer  for  sale  newspapers  under  circumstances  forbidden  by 
the  provisions  of  this  article,  must  be  arrested  and  brought  before  a  court  or 
magistrate  having  jurisdiction  to  commit  a  child  to  an  incorporated  charitable 
reformatory  or  other  institution,  and  be  dealt  with  according  to  law;  and  if  any 
such  child  is  committed  to  an  institution,  it  shall,  when  practicable,  be  committed 
to  an  institution  governed  by  persons  of  the  same  religious  faith  as  the  parents  of 
such  child. 

§  2.  Nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  be  deemed  or  construed  to  repeal 
amend,  modify,  impair  or  in  any  manner  affect  any  provision  of  the  penal  code  or 
the  code  of  criminal  procedure. 


ADDITIONAL  PROVISIONS  IN  FORCE  IN  MASSACHUSETTS 

The  following  provisions  of  the  Massachusetts  law  excel  the  New  York  law 
and  should  be  incorporated  in  any  statute  hereafter  adopted. 

No  child  shall  work  as  a  bootblack  unless  he  is  over  ten  years  of  age ;  and 
he  shall  not  sell  any  other  article  except  newspapers,  unless  he  is  over  twelve 
years  of  age. 

Every  permit  shall  be  issued  on  the  condition  that  the  holder  thereof  shall, 
so  long  as  he  continues  under  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  attend,  during  every 
session  thereof,  one  of  the  public  schools,  or  some  regularly  established  school  in 
the  city  of  Boston,  approved  by  the  committee  on  licenses  of  said  city. 

Any  minor  who  violates  any  of  said  terms  will  be  deprived  of  his  permit  and 
badge,  and  be  fined. 

52 


[Refer  to  this  bill  as  S.  2962.] 

A  BILL   TO    ESTABLISH    IN   THE    DEPARTMENT    OF  THE  INTERIOR  A 

BUREAU  TO  BE  KNOWN  AS  THE  CHILDREN'S  BUREAU 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  there  shall  be  established  in  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  a  bureau  to  be  known  as  the  Children's  Bureau. 

Sec.  2.  That  the  said  bureau  shall  be  under  the  direction  of  a  chief,  to  be 
appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
and  who  shall  receive  an  annual  compensation  of  $5,000.  The  said  bureau  shall 
investigate  and  report  upon  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  children  and 
child  life,  and  shall  especially  investigate  the  questions  of  infant  mortality,  the 
birth  rate,  physical  degeneracy,  orphanage,  juvenile  delinquency  and  juvenile 
courts,  desertion  and  illegitimacy,  dangerous  occupations,  accidents  and  diseases 
of  children  of  the  working  classes,  employment,  legislation  affecting  children  in 
the  several  States  and  Territories,  and  such  other  facts  as  have  a  bearing  upon 
the  health,  efficiency,  character  and  training  of  children.  The  chief  of  said 
bureau  shall,  from  time  to  time,  publish  the  results  of  these  investigations. 

Sec.  3.  That  there  shall  be  in  said  bureau,  until  otherwise  provided  for  by 
law,  an  assistant  chief,  to  be  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  who  shall 
receive  an  annual  compensation  of  $3,000;  one  private  secretary  to  the  chief  of 
the  bureau,  who  shall  receive  an  annual  compensation  of  $1,500;  a  chief  clerk, 
who  shall  receive  an  annual  compensation  of  $2,000;  one  statistical  expert  at 
$2,000;  four  clerks  of  class  four;  four  clerks  of  class  three;  two  clerks  of  class 
two,  and  six  clerks  of  class  one;  five  clerks  at  $1,000  each;  two  copyists  at  $900 
each;  one  messenger  at  $720;  two  special  agents  at  $1,400  each,  and  two  special 
agents  at  $1,200  each 

Sec.  4.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  is  hereby  directed  to  furnish 
sufficient  quarters  for  the  work  of  this  bureau,  at  an  annual  rental  not  to  exceed 
$2,000 

Sec  5.  That  this  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  from  and  after  its 
passage. 


[Refer  to  this  bill  as  S.  50  or  H.  R.  4462.] 

A  BILL  TO  REGULATE  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  CHILD  LABOR 

IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  no  child  under  fourteen  years  of 
age  shall  be  employed,  permitted,  or  suffered  to  work  in  any  factory,  workshop, 
mercantile  est ablisment,  store,  business  office,  telegraph  office,  restaurant,  hotel, 
apartment  house,'  or  in  the  distribution  or  transmission  of  merchandise  or 
messages.  No  such  child  shall  be  employed  in  any  work  performed  for  wages  or 
other  compensation,  to  whomsoever  payable,  during  the  hours  when  the  public 
schools  of  the  District  of  Columbia  are  in  session,  nor  be  employed  at  any  work 
before  the  hour  of  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  or  after  the  hour  of  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening. 

53 


Sec.  2.  That  no  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  shall  be  employed,  permitted 
or  suffered  to  work  in  any  of  the  establishments  named  in  section  one,  unless  the 
person  or  corporation  employing  him  produces  and  keeps  on  file  and  accessible 
to  the  inspectors  authorized  by  this  act  and  the  truant  officers  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  an  age  and  schooling  certificate,  and  keeps  two  complete  lists  of  all 
such  children  employed  therein,  one  on  file  and  one  conspicuously  posted  near 
the  principal  entrance  of  the  building  in  which  such  children  are  employed. 

Sec  3.  That  an  age  and  schooling  certificate  shall  be  approved  only  by  the 
superintendent  of  public  schools,  or  by  a  person  authorized  by  him  in  writing, 
who  shall  have  authority  to  administer  the  oath  provided  for  therein,  but  no  fee 
shall  be  charged  therefor. 

Sec.  4.  That  an  age  and  schooling  certificate  shall  not  be  approved  unless 
satisfactory  evidence  is  furnished  by  duly  attested  transcript  of  the  certificate  of 
birth  or  baptism  of  such  child,  or  other  religious  record,  or  the  register  of  birth,  or 
the  affidavit  of  the  parent  or  guardian  or  custodian  of  a  child,  which  affidavit  shall 
be  required,  however,  only  in  case  such  last -mentioned  transcript  of  the  certifi- 
cate of  birth  be  not  produced  and  filed,  showing  the  place  and  date  of  birth  of 
such  child;  which  affidavit  must  be  taken  before  the  officer  issuing  the  employ- 
ment certificate,  who  is  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  administer  such  oath, 
and  who  shall  not  demand  or  receive  a  fee  therefor. 

Sec. -5.  That  the  age  and  schooling  certificate  of  a  child  under  sixteen  years 
of  age  shall  be  in  the  following  form : 

Age  and  Schooling  Certificate 
This  certifies  that  I  am  the  (father,  mother,  guardian  or  custodian)  of  (name 

of  child) and  that  (he  or  she)  was  bom  at  (name  of 

town  or  city) in  the  county  of  (name  of  county,  if 

known) and  State  (or  country)  of 

on  the  (day  and  year  of  birth) and  is  now  (number  of 

years  and  months) old. 

Signature  of  (father,  mother,  guardian  or  custodi  m.) 

(Date) 

There  personally  appeared  before  me  the  above-named  (name  of  person  sign- 
ing)   and  made  oath  that  the  foregoing  certificate  by 

(him  or  her)  signed  is  true  to  the  best  of  (his  or  her)  knowledge  and  belief.     I 

hereby  approve  the  foregoing  certificate  of  (name  of  child) 

height  (feet  and  inches) eyes  (color) complexion  (fair 

or   dark) hair    (color) having  no   sufficient   reason   to 

doubt  that  (he  or  she)  is  of  the  age  therein  certified,  I  hereby  certify  that  (he  or 
she)  can  read  at  sight  and  (can  or  cannot)  write  legibly  simple  sentences  in  the 
English  language,  and  that  (he  or  she)  has  reached  the  normal  development  of  a 
child  of  (his  or  her)  age,  and  is  in  sound  health  and  is  physically  able  to  perform 
the  work  which  (he  or  she)  intends  to  do,  and  that  (he  or  she)  has  regularly 
attended  the  public  schools,  or  a  school  equivalent  thereto,  for  not  less  than  130 
days  during  the  school  year  previous  to  arriving  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  or 
during  the  year  previous  to  applying  for  such  school  record,  and  has  received 
during  such  period  instruction  in  reading,  spelling,  writing,  English  grammar,  and 
geography,  and  is  familiar  with  the  fundamental  operations  of  arithmetic  to  and 
including  fractions. 

This  certificate  belongs  to  (name  of  child  in  whose  behalf  it  is  drawn) 

and  is  to  be  surrendered  to  (him  or  her)  whenever  (he  or  she) 

leaves  the  service  of  the  corporation  or  employer  holding  the  same;  but  if  not 
claimed  by  said  child  within  thirty  days  from  such  time  it  shall  be  returned  to  the 
superintendent  of  schools. 

(Signature  of  person  authorized  to  approve  and  sign,  with 
official  character  or  authority.) 
(Date) 

54 


A  duplicate  of  each  age  and  schooling  certificate  shall  be  filled  out  and  kept 
on  file  by  the  superintendent  of  pubHc  schools.  Any  explanatory  matter  may  be 
printed  with  such  certificates,  in  the  discretion  of  said  superintendent. 

Sec.  6.  That  whoever  employs  a  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  who- 
ever having  under  his  control  a  child  under  such  age  permits  such  child  to  be  em- 
ployed, in  violation  of  sections  one,  two,  eight  or  nine  of  this  act,  shall,  for  such 
offense,  be  fined  not  more  than  fifty  dollars;  and  whoever  continues  to  employ 
any  child  in  violation  of  any  of  said  sections  of  this  act,  after  being  notified  by  an 
inspector  authorized  by  this  act  or  a  truant  officer  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
shall  for  every  day  thereafter  that  such  employment  continues  be  fined  not  less 
than  five  nor  more  than  twenty  dollars.  A  failure  to  produce  to  an  inspector 
authorized  by  this  act,  or  a  truant  officer  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  any  age  or 
schooling  certificate  or  list  required  by  this  act  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence  of 
illegal  employment  of  any  person  whose  age  and  schooling  certificate  is  not  pro- 
duced or  whose  name  is  not  so  listed.  Any  corporation  or  employer  retaining  any 
age  and  schooling  certificate  in  violation  of  section  five  of  this  act  shall  be  fined 
ten  dollars.  Every  person  authorized  to  sign  the  certificate  prescribed  by  section 
five  of  this  act  who  knowingly  certifies  to  any  materially  false  statement  therein 
shall  be  fined  not  more  than  fifty  dollars. 

Sec.  7.  That  inspectors  authorized  by  this  act  and  the  truant  officers  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  may  visit  the  factories,  workshops,  and  mercantile  establ  sh- 
ments  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  ascertain  whether  any  minors  are  employed 
therein  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  they  shall  report  any  cases  of 
such  illegal  employment  to  the  superintendent  of  public  schools  and  the  corpora- 
tion counsel  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Inspectors  authorized  by  this  act  and 
the  truant  officers  of  the  District  of  Columbia  may  require  that  the  age  and  school- 
ing certificates  and  lists  provided  for  in  this  act  of  minors  employed  in  such 
factories,  workshops  or  mercantile  establishments  shall  be  produced  for  their 
inspection. 

Sec.  8.  That  no  minor  under  sixteen  years  of  age  shall  be  employed,  per- 
mitted, or  suffered  to  work  in  any  manufacturing,  mechanical  or  mercantile  estab- 
lishment more  than  eight  hours  in  any  one  day,  or  after  the  hour  of  seven  o'clock 
post  meridian,  and  in  no  case  shall  the  number  of  hours  exceed  forty-eight  in  a 
week. 

Sec.  9 .  That  every  employer  shall  post  in  a  conspicuous  place  in  every  room 
where  such  persons  are  employed  a  printed  notice,  stating  the  number  of  hours 
required  of  them  on  each  day  of  the  week,  the  hours  of  commencing  and  stopping 
work,  and  the  hours  when  the  time  or  times  allowed  for  dinner  or  for  other  meals 
begin  and  end.  The  printed  form  of  such  notice  shall  be  furnished  by  the  inspec- 
tors authorized  by  this  act  and  the  truant  officers  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
the  employment  of  any  such  person  for  a  longer  time  in  any  day  than  that  so 
stated  shall  be  deemed  a  violation  of  this  section. 

Sec.  10.  That  the  Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia  are  hereby 
authorized  to  appoint  two  inspectors  to  carry  out  the  purpose  of  this  Act,  at  a 
compensation  not  exceeding  one  thousand  two  hundred  dollars  each  per  annum. 


5S 


(Refer  to  this  bill  as  S.  6562  and  H.  R.  21,404) 

A  BILL  TO  PREVENT  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  CHILDREN  IN 
FACTORIES  AND  MINES 

This  bill,  known  as  the  Beveridge-Parsons  Child  Labor  Bill,  marks  the 
first  attempt  to  cope  with  child  labor  throughout  the  country  by  the  Federal 
Government.  It  is  meant  to  fill  the  urgent  need  for  uniformity  of  child  labor 
laws  in  all  the  states,  a  uniformity  hitherto  not  even  approximated  by  separate 
efforts  of  the  individual  states  as  this  Handbook  illustrates.  This  bill,  if  enacted 
"into  law,  will  set  a  minimum  standard  below  which  the  nation  does  not  permit 
any  of  the  states  to  fall. 

The  Beveridge-Parsons  Bill  has  been  endorsed  by  the  National  Child  Labor 
Committee,  and  an  effort  to  secure  its  enactment  will  constitute  one  of  the  Com- 
mittee's chief  interests  this  winter. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled.  That  six  months  from  and  after  the 
passage  of  this  act  no  carrier  of  interstate  commerce  shall  transport  or  accept 
for  transportation  the  products  of  any  factory  or  mine  in  which  children  under 
fourteen  years  of  age  are  employed  or  permitted  to  work,  which  products  are 
offered  to  said  interstate  carrier  by  the  firm,  person,  or  corporation  owning  or 
operating  said  factory  or  mine,  or  any  officer  or  agent  or  servant  thereof,  for 
transportation  into  any  other  state  or  territory  than  the  one  in  which  said  fac- 
tory is  located. 

Sec.  2.  That  no  carrier  of  interstate  commerce  shall  transport  or  accept  for 
transportation  the  products  of  any  factory  or  mine  offered  it  for  transportation 
by  any  person,  firm,  or  corporation  which  owns  or  operates  such  factory  or  mine, 
or  any  officer,  agent,  or  servant  of  such  person,  firm,  or  corporation,  until  the 
president  or  secretary  or  general  manager  of  such  corporation  or  a  member  of 
such  firm  or  the  person  owning  or  operating  such  factory  or  mine  shall  file  with 
said  carrier  an  affidavit  to  the  effect  that  children  tmder  fourteen  years  of  age 
are  not  employed  in  such  factory  or  mine 

Sec.  3.  That  the  form  of  said  affidavit  shall  be  prescribed  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  After  the  first  affidavit  is  filed  a 
like  affidavit  shall  be  filed,  on  or  before  July  first  and  on  or  before  December 
thirty-first  of  each  year,  with  the  interstate  carrier  to  which  such  factory  or  mine 
offers  its  products  for  transportation;  and  after  the  first  affidavit  subsequent 
affidavits  shall  also  state  that  no'^children  under  fourteen'  years  of  age  are  em- 
ployed or  permitted  to  work  in  said  factory  or  mine  or  have  been  employed 
or  permitted  to  work  in  said  factory  or  mine'at  any  time  during  the"'preceding 
six  months. 

Sec.  4.  That  any  officer  or  agent  of  a  carrier  of  interstate  commerce  who  is 
a  party  to  any  violation  of  this  act  or  who  knowingly  violates  any  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  Act  shall  be  punished  for  each  offense  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than 
ten  thousand  dollars  nor  less  than  one  thousand  dollars  or  by  imprisonment  for 
not  more  than  six  months  nor  less  than  one  month  or  by  both  said  fine  and 
imprisonment,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court.  Any  person  by  this  act  required 
to  file  the  affidavit  herein  provided  for  who  fails  or  refuses  to  file  such  affidavit 
or  who  shall  make  a  false  statement  in  said  affidavit,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine 
not  exceeding  twenty  thousand  dollars  nor  less  than  five  thousand  dollars  or 
by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  one  year  nor  less  than  three  months,  or  by  both 
said  fine  and  imprisonment,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 


56 


SOME  RECENT  JUDICIAL  DECISIONS. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  California  on  the  Constitutionality  of  the 
Child  Labor  Law  of  1905.  (Ex  parte  Spencer,  Crim.  Nos.  1332, 
86  Pacific  Reporter,  p.  896.)  * 

This  case  involved  four  complaints,  relating  to  four  different  xhe  Law. 
children  employed  under  14  years  of  age  in  the  workshop  and 
boiler  room  of  a  steamer,  the  child  not  then  having  a  permit  to 
work  from  the  judge  of  the  juvenile  court  of  the  county,  and  the 
time  of  employment  not  being  in  vacation  of  the  public  schools. 
Judge  Shaw  for  the  court  said: 

The  second  clause  of  section  2  of  the  act  provides  that  no 
child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  shall  be  employed  in  any  mer- 
cantile institution,  office,  laundry,  manufactory,  workshop, 
restaurant,  hotel,  or  apartment  house,  or  in  the  distribution  or 
transmission  of  merchandise  or  messages;  provided,  that  upon  the 
sworn  statement  of  the  parent  that  the  child  is  over  twelve  years 
of  age  and  that  the  parent  or  parents  are  unable,  from  sickness 
to  labor,  the  judge  of  the  juvenile  court,  in  his  discretion,  may 
issue  a  permit  allowing  such  child  to  work  for  a  specific  time,  and 
provided,  further,  that  during  the  time  of  the  regular  vacation 
of  the  public  schools  of  the  city  or  county,  any  child  over  twelve 
years  of  age  may  work  at  any  of  the  prohibited  occupations,  upon 
a  permit  from  the  principal  of  the  school  attended  by  the  child 
during  the  immediately  preceding  term.  Section  4  of  the  act 
declares  that  a  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  act  shall 
be  a  misdemeanor.  The  complaints  charge  violations  of  these 
provisions. 

Several  objections  on  constitutional  grounds  are  made  to  the  The  Objec- 
validity  of  the  act.     It  is  claimed  that   it  is  special  law  for  the  tions. 
punishment  of  crime,  where  a  general  law  could  be  made  applicable, 
and  therefore,  contrary  to  sections  2  and  33  of  Article  IV  of  the  , 
Constitution  of  California ;  that  it  is  not  of  uniform  operation ,  but 
is  discriminatory;  and  hence  in  conflict  with  sections  11  and  21 
of   Article  I,  and  that  it  would  deprive  persons  of  the  right  to 
acquire  and  possess  property,  thus  violating  section  i  of  Article  I 
of  the  State  Constitution  and  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  presumption  always  is  that  an  act  of  the  Legislature  is  Legislative 
constitutional,  and  when  this  depends  on  the  existence,  or  non-  Act  should  be 
existence,  of  some  fact,  or  state  of  facts,  the  determination  thereof  c^^^^^^^on. 
is  primarily  for  the  legislature,  and  the  courts  will  acquiesce  in  its  j^j^ 
decision,  unless  the  error  clearly  appears  (Bourland  v.  Hildreth, 
26  Cal.  184;  University!'.  Bernard,  57  Cal.  612;  In  re  Madera  Irr. 
Dist.,  92  Cal.  310;  Sinking  Fund  Cases,  99  U.  S.  718;  Tiedman  on 
Police  Power,  Vol.  i,  p.  10,  note;  Cooley,  Const.  Lim.  7th  Ed.  228.) 
"Every  possible  presumption  is  in  favor  of  the  validity  of  a  statute, 
and  this  continues  until  the  contrary  is  shown  beyond  a  rational 
doubt.     One  branch  of  the  government  cannot  encroach  on  the 
domain  of  another  without  danger.     The  safety  of  our  institutions 
depends  in  no  small  degree  on  a  strict  observance  of  this  salutary 
rule."    (Sinking  Fund  Cases,  Supra.)    "The   delicate  act   of  de- 

*  By  courtesy  of  the  West  Publishing  Co. 

57 


daring  an  act  of  the  Legislature  unconstitutional  and  void  should 
never  be  exercised  unless  there  is  a  clear  repugnancy  between  the 
statute  and  the  organic  law.  ...  In  a  doubtful  case  the 
benefit  of  the  doubt  is  to  be  given  to  the  Legislature ;  but  it  is  to  be 
remembered  that  the  doubt  to  which  this  rule  of  construction 
refers  is  a  reasonable  doubt  as  distinguished  from  vague  conjecture 
or  misgivings."     (Bourland  v.  Hildreth,  supra.) 

From  their  tender  years,  immature  growth  and  lack  of  expe- 
rience, and  knowledge,  minors  are  more  subject  to  injury  from 
excessive  exertion  and  less  capable  of  self -protection  than  adults. 
They  are  therefore,  peculiarly  entitled  to  legislative  protection 
and  form  a  class  to  which  legislation  may  be  exclusively  directed 
without  falling  under  the  constitutional  prohibitions  of  special 
legislation  and  unfair  discrimination. 
Law  does  not  The  first  objection  to  the  validity  of  the  part  of  the  section 

Discriminate     above  stated  is  that  it  is  discriminatory  and  special  because  it 
^^^*  does  not  prohibit  such  employment  of  minors  in  all  occupations, 

but  only  in  those  specifically  mentioned;  that  work  at  other  places, 
of  which  saloons,  barber  shops,  railroads,  ferries  and  warehouses 
are  specified  by  counsel  as  instances,  would  be  equally  injurious, 
and  that  in  order  to  be  general  and  uniform  they  should  be  included 
in  the  prohibition.  The  objection  is  two-fold;  first,  that  the 
legislation  constitutes  an  unfair  discrimination  against  the  par- 
ticular trades  mentioned;  second,  that  it  tmduly  and  without 
reasonable  cause  restricts  the  right  of  minors  to  work  at  any  and 
every  occupation  in  which  they  may  wish  to  engage.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  act  to  indicate  a  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  legis- 
lature to  make  use  of  the  laudable  object  of  protecting  children 
as  a  mere  pretense  under  which  to  impose  burdens  upon  some 
occupations  or  trades  and  favor  others.  It  appears  to  have  been 
framed  in  good  faith  and  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  general 
welfare  by  protecting  minors  from  injury  by  overwork  and  facili- 
tating their  attendance  at  schools.  The  legislature  may  undoubt- 
edly forbid  the  employment  of  children  under  the  age  of  fourteen 
years  at  any  regular  occupation  if  the  interests  of  the  children  and 
the  general  welfare  of  society  will  be  thereby  secured  and  pro- 
*  moted.  The  power  to  forbid  their  employment  in  certain  occupa- 
tions and  not  in  all  depends  on  the  question  whether  or  not  any 
appreciable  number  of  children  are  employed  in  the  callings  not 
forbidden,  and  whether  or  not  those  callings  are  injurious  to  them, 
or  less  injurious  than  those  forbidden.  If  certain  occupations 
are  especially  harmful  for  young  children  and  others  are  not  so, 
there  can  be  no  serious  doubt  that  it  is  within  the  power  of  the  legis- 
lature to  forbid  their  employment  in  one  class  and  permit  it  in 
the  other.  The  difference  in  the  results  would  justify  the  classi- 
fication with  a  view  to  the  difference  in  the  legislation.  Also,  if 
children  are  employed  in  certain  occupations  to  their  injury  and 
are  not  employed  at  all  in  others,  or  so  infrequently  that  the 
number  is  inappreciable  and  insignificant,  the  occupations  regu- 
larly employing  them  have  no  ground  to  complain  of  discrimina- 
tion. They  compose  the  entire  class  to  which  the  legislation  is 
directed,  the  class  which  causes  the  injury  to  be  prevented.  And 
upon  the  facts  assumed  neither  the  children  engaged  in  the  occupa- 
tions in  which  they  are  employed  nor  the  persons  would  be  aifected 
by  the  prohibition  as  to  other  occupations.  The  preliminary 
questions  as  to  the  effect  of  the  specified  occupations  on  the 
children  and  the  number  of  children  engaged  therein,  are  questions 

58 


i 


of  fact  for  the  legislature  to  ascertain  and  determine.  It  has 
determined  that  the  facts  exist  to  authorize  the  particular  legis- 
lation. If  any  rational  doubt  exists  as  to  the  soundness  of  the 
legislative  judgment  upon  the  existence  of  the  facts,  that  doubt 
must  be  resolved  in  favor  of  the  legislative  action  and  the  law 
must  accordingly  be  held  to  be  valid  in  these  respects.  The  speci- 
fications of  forbidden  callings  are  broad  and  comprehensive. 
Even  of  these  which  as  counsel  assert,  are  omitted  from  the  classi- 
fication, we  cannot  say  that  a  saloon  is  not  a  "mercantile  institu- 
tion," it  being  a  place  where  merchandise  is  sold;  nor  that  a  barber 
shop  is  not  a  "workshop,"  it  being  a  place  where  a  handicraft  is 
carried  on;  nor  that  ferries  and  railroads  are  not  engaged  in  the 
"distribution  or  transmission  of  merchandise  or  messages."  At  all 
events,  in  view  of  the  rule  that  a  statute  must  be  liberally  construed 
to  the  end  that  it  may  be  declared  constitutional  rather  than 
unconstitutional,  (People  v.  Hayne,  83  Cal.  117;  26  Am.  &  Eng. 
Encyc.  of  Law,  640),  we  would  not  give  the  description  of  for- 
bidden occupations  this  narrow  construction  in  order  to  make  the 
law  invalid.  The  decision  of  the  legislature  that  the  specified 
occupations  are  more  injurious  to  children  than  others  not  men- 
tioned and  hence  the  subject  of  special  regulation,  and  that  they 
constitute  practically  all  the  injurious  occupations  in  which 
children  are  employed  at  all,  and  therefore,  the  only  cases  in  which 
regulation  is  needed,  is  not  so  manifestly  incorrect,  not  so  beclouded 
with  doubt  concerning  its  accuracy,  as  to  justify  the  court  in 
declaring  it  unfounded  and  the  law,  consequently,  invalid. 

There  is  a  proviso  to  this  clause  of  the  section,  to  the  effect 
that  if  either  parent  of  such  child  makes  a  sworn  statement  to  the 
judge  of  the  juvenile  court  of  the  coimty,  that  the  child  is  over 
twelve  years  of  age,  and  that  the  parent  or  parents  are  unable, 
from  sickness,  to  labor,  such  judge,  in  his  discretion,  may  issue  a 
permit  allowing  such  child  to  work  for  a  time  to  be  specified  therein. 
There  is  no  force  to  the  objection  that  this  discriminates  orphans 
and  abandoned  children.  The  exception  allowed  by  the  proviso 
is  not  made  for  the  direct  benefit  of  the  child,  but  for  the  sick 
parent.  It  is  a  burden  put  upon  the  child  because  of  the  special 
necessity  of  his  case  which  justifies  the  different  provision  respect- 
ing him.  The  legislature  deems  the  necessity  of  allowing  the 
child  to  work  to  aid  in  the  support  of  the  sick  parent,  sufficient  to 
outweigh  the  benefits  which  would  otherwise  accrue  from  the 
education  and  protection  of  the  child  during  such  inability.  If 
there  are  no  parents  whose  necessities  the  child's  labor  could 
alleviate,  the  reason  for  this  exception  is  wanting.  The  pro- 
vision seems  a  reasonable  one  in  view  of  the  conditions  upon 
which,  alone,  it  can  apply. 

There  is  a  further  proviso  or  exception,  to  the  effect  that  any 
child  over  twelve  years  old  may  work  at  the  prohibited  occupations 
during  the  time  of  the  regular  vacations  of  the  public  schools  of 
the  city  or  county,  upon  a  permit  from  the  principal  of  the  school 
attended  by  the  child  during  the  term  next  preceding  such  vaca- 
tion. This  does  not,  as  counsel  contends,  give  the  principals  of 
the  public  schools  the  exclusive  power  to  give  the  contemplated 
permits.  Its  true  meaning  is  that  the  permit  is  to  be  given  by 
the  principal  of  the  school  which  the  child  has  attended,  whether 
the  school  is  public  or  private,  but  that  it  can  extend  only  to  the 
time  of  the  public  school  vacation.  This  act  was  approved 
February  20,   1905.     Its  provisions  relating  to  attendance  upon 

59 


Constitutional 


schools,  and  those  of  section  i  of  the  act  of  March  24,  1903  (Stats. 
1903,  388),  with  the  amendment  of  March  20,  1905  (Stats.  1905, 
388),  to  said  section  i  must  be  considered  together.  The  act  of 
1903  in  effect,  requires  all  children  to  attend,  either  the  pubUc 
schools,  or  a  private  school,  during  at  least  five  months  of  the  time 
of  the  sessions  of  the  public  schools.  The  amendment  of  March 
20,  1905,  extends  the  time  of  such  compulsory  attendance  so  as  to 
embrace  the  whole  period  of  the  public  school  session.  Therefore, 
if  the  parents,  guardians  or  custodians  of  a  child  choose  to  send 
it  to  a  private  school,  it  must  attend  thereon  at  least  during  the 
time  the  public  schools  are  in  session.  A  permit  may  then  be 
obtained  for  it  to  work  during  the  vacation  of  the  public  schools, 
if  its  interests  or  necessities  so  require,  without  subjecting  it  to 
conditions  substantially  different  from  those  affecting  the  children 
attending  the  public  schools.  There  is  no  discrimination.  The 
legislature  has  the  power  to  make  such  reasonable  regulations  as 
these  with  respect  to  the  time  of  the  vacations  of  schools,  whether 
public  or  private,  in  the  interest  of  the  public  welfare  and  the 
welfare  of  the  children. 
Educational  A  third  clause  of  section  2  declares  that  no  child  under  sixteen 

?f3ISl?,^^??i  y^s-rs  of  age  shall  work  at  any  gainful  occupation  during  the  hours 
that  the  public  schools  are  in  session,  unless  such  child  can  read 
English  at  sight  and  write  simple  English  sentences,  or  is  attending 
night  school.  The  first  clause  of  section  2  provides  that  no  minor 
tmder  sixteen  shall  work  in  any  mercantile  institution,  office, 
laundry,  manufacturing  establishment,  or  workshop,  between 
ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  and  six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Section 
5  of  the  act  further  provides  that  nothing  in  the  act  is  to  be  con- 
strued to  prevent  the  employment  of  minors  at  agricultural, 
viticultural,  horticultural  or  domestic  labor,  during  the  time  the 
public  schools  are  not  in  session,  or  during  other  than  school  hours. 
The  petitioner's  contention  with  respect  to  the  first  and  last  clause 
of  section  2  is  that  they  constitute  such  important  parts  of  the 
statute  that  it  cannot  be  presumed  that  the  legislature  would 
have  adopted  the  other  parts  thereof  if  it  had  been  aware  of  the 
invalidity  of  these  particular  provisions  and  hence  the  whole 
act  must  fall.  We  cannot  accede  to  this  proposition.  They  are 
separable  and  independent  provisions  and  are  not  so  important 
to  the  entire  scheme  as  to  justify  us  in  concluding  that  the  legis- 
lature would  have  refused  to  adopt  the  other  parts  without  these, 
and  thereby  to  declare  the  entire  statute  invalid. 

Nor  can  it  be  conceded  that  these  provisions  are  invalid. 
The  principles  already  discussed  apply  with  equal  force  to  the 
first  clause  of  the  section.  The  proviso  concerning  illiterate 
children  is  a  reasonable  regulation  to  prevent  those  having  control 
of  such  children  from  working  them  to  such  an  extent  as  to  hinder 
them  from  acquiring,  or  endeavoring  to  acquire,  at  least  the 
beginning  of  an  education  before  arriving  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years.  The  exemption  of  domestic  labor  and  the  several  kinds 
of  farming  from  the  operation  of  the  act  is  not  an  unreasonable 
discrimination.  Such  work  is  generally  carried  on  at  the  home 
and  as  a  part  of  that  general  home  industry  which  should  not  be 
too  much  discouraged,  and  it  is  usually  under  the  immediate  care 
and  supervision  of  the  parents  or  those  occupying  the  place  of 
parents,  and  hence  is  not  liable  to  cause  so  much  injury.  These 
circumstances  distinguish  them  from  the  prohibited  industries 
and  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  exemption. 

We  find  no  reasonable  ground  for  declaring  the  law  invalid. 
60 


The  Supreme  Court  of  Michigan  on  the  application  of  the  statute  forbidding 
employment  of  minors  under  i6  years  at  any  employment  by  which  life  or  limb 
is  endangered.  (Sterling  v.  Union  Carbide  Company,  105  Northwestern 
Reporter,  page  755.) 

This  case  involved  the  application  of  a  statute  relating  to  the  employment 
of  children  under  16  years  of  age,  any  employment  by  which  life  or  limb  is 
endangered  being  thereby  forbidden.  Sterling  was  under  16  years  of  age,  and 
was  employed  by  the  Union  Carbide  Company  at  putting  sheets  of  metal 
through  a  corrugating  machine.  While  so  engaged  he  attempted  to  remove  a 
partly  detached  comer  from  one  of  the  sheets,  and  his  hand  was  drawn  into  the 
rollers  and  severely  injured. 

Damages  were  allowed  in  the  circuit  court  of  Chippewa  County,  and,  on 
appeal,  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  state.  Sterling  testified  that  he  knew 
he  was  liable  to  get  hurt  if  his  fingers  got  caught  in  the  rollers,  and  that  it  was 
dangerous  to  reach  toward  the  sheet  when  it  was  nearly  through,  but  that  he 
did  not  at  the  time  have  the  danger  in  mind.  He  also  testified  that  he  was  given 
no  instructions  as  to  the  operation  of  the  machine. 

Judge  Montgomery  for  the  court  said  in  part : — "  It  is  insisted  by  appellant's 
counsel  that  the  employment  of  the  plaintiff  was  not  the  approximate  cause  of 
the  injury.  Whatever  view  may  be  entertained  under  statutes  differently 
worded,  we  think  it  entirely  clear  that  the  disregard  of  the  inhibition  of  this 
statute,  by  placing  the  plaintiff  at  work  at  an  employment  where  his  life  or  limb 
was  endangered,  constituted  the  negligence  or  wrong  of  which  plaintiff  has  the 
right  to  complain,  and  that  the  causal  connection  between  that  wrong  and  the 
injury  to  plaintiff  is  clear.  Closely  connected  with  this  question  is  that  of 
assumption  of  risk.  This  question  we  regard  as  settled  (i.  e.,  that  in  such  cases 
the  risk  is  not  assumed). " 


The  Supreme  Court  of  Oregon  on  the  Constitutionality  of  the  Child  Labor 
Law  of  1905,     (State  v.  Shcrey,  86  Pacific  Reporter,  page  881.) 

The  defendant  was  accused  by  information  of  the  crime  of  employing  a 
minor  under  the  age  of  16  years  for  a  greater  period  than  ten  hours  a  day,  in 
violation  of  section  5  of  the  child  labor  law  of  1905,  which  reads  as  follows: 
"No  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  shall  be  employed  at  any  work  before  the 
hour  of  seven  in  the  morning,  or  after  the  hour  of  six  at  night,  nor  employed  for 
longer  than  ten  hours  for  any  one  day,  nor  more  than  six  days  in  any  one  week; 
and  every  such  child,  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  shall  be  entitled  to  not  less 
than  thirty  minutes  for  meal  time  at  noon,  but  such  meal  time  shall  not  be 
included  as  part  of  the  work  hours  of  the  day;  and  every  employer  shall  post 
in  a  conspicuous  place  where  such  minors  are  employed,  a  printed  notice  stating 
the  maximum  work  hours  required  in  one  week,  and  in  every  day  of  the  week, 
from  such  minors."     General  Laws  of  Oregon,  1905,  p.  343. 

A  demurrer  to  the  information  was  overruled,  and  he  entered  a  plea  of  not 
guilty.  Upon  the  trial  it  was  stipulated  that  the  averment  of  the  information 
were  true,  and  he  was  thereupon  adjudged  guilty  and  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine 
and  costs.  From  this  judgment  he  appeals,  claiming  that  the  law  which  he  is 
accused  of  violating  is  unconstitutional  and  void  because  in  conflict  with  the 
fourteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  provides 
that  no  state  shall  "depriv  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  the 
process  of  law,"  and  of  section  i  of  article  i  of  the  Constitution  of  this  state, 
which  reads:  "We  declare  that  all  men,  when  they  form  a  social  compact,  are 

61 


equal  in  rights/*  These  constitutional  provisions  do  not  limit  the  power  of 
the  state  to  interfere  with  the  parental  control  of  minors,  or  to  regulate  the  right 
of  a  minor  to  contract,  or  of  others  to  contract  with  him.  2  Tiedeman  on  State 
and  Fed.  Con.,  §195.  It  is  competent  for  the  state  to  forbid  the  employment  of 
children  in  certain  callings  merely  because  it  believes  such  prohibition  to  be  for 
their  best  interest,  although  the  prohibited  employment  does  not  involve  a  direct 
danger  to  morals,  decency,  or  of  life  or  limb.  Such  legislation  is  not  an  unlaw- 
ful interference  with  the  parents'  control  over  the  child  or  right  to  its  labor,  nor 
with  the  liberty  of  the  child.  People  v.  Ewer,  141  N.  Y.  129,  36  N.  E.  4,  25 
L.  R.  A.  794,  38  Am.  St.  Rep.  788,  affirming  In  re  Ewer,  70  Hun,  239,  24  N.  Y. 
Supp.  500.  Laws  prohibiting  the  employment  of  adult  males  for  more  than 
a  stated  number  of  hours  per  day  or  week  are  not  valid  unless  reasonably  neces- 
sary to  protect  the  public  health,  safety,  morals  or  general  welfare,  because 
the  right  to  labor  or  employ  labor  on  such  terms  as  may  be  agreed  upon  is  a 
liberty  or  property  right  guaranteed  to  such  persons  by  the  fourteenth  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  with  which  the  state  cannot  inter- 
fere. Lochner  v.  New  York,  198  U.  S.  45,  25  Sup.  Ct.  539,  49  L.  Ed.  937.  But 
laws  regulating  the  right  of  minors  to  contract  do  not  come  within  this  princi- 
ple. They  are  not  sui  juris,  and  can  only  contract  to  a  limited  extent.  They  are 
wards  of  the  state  and  subject  to  its  control.  As  to  them  the  state  stands  in  the 
position  of  parens  patriae  and  may  exercise  unlimited  supervision  and  control  over 
their  contracts,  occupation,  and  conduct,  and  the  liberty  and  right  of  those 
who  assume  to  deal  with  them.  This  is  a  power  which  inheres  in  the  gov- 
ernment for  its  own  preservation  and  for  the  protection  of  the  life,  person,  health, 
and  morals  of  its  future  citizens.  "It  has  been  well  remarked,"  says  Mr.  Justice 
Gray  in  People  v.  Ewer,  supra,  "that  the  better  organized  and  trained  the  race, 
the  better  it  is  prepared  for  holding  its  own.  Hence  it  is  that  laws  are  enacted 
looking  to  the  compulsory  education  by  parents  of  their  children,  and  to  their 
punishment  for  cruel  treatment ;  and  which  limit  and  regulate  the  employment  of 
children  in  the  factory  and  the  workshop  to  prevent  injury  from  excessive  labor. 
It  is  not,  and  cannot  be  disputed,  that  the  interest  which  the  state  has  in  the 
physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  well-being  of  its  members  warrants  the  implica- 
tion, and  the  exercise,  of  every  just  power,  which  will  result  in  preparing  the 
child,  in  future  life,  to  support  itself,  to  serve  the  state,  and  in  all  the  relations 
and  duties  of  adult  life  to  perform  well  and  capably  its  part." 

The  supervision  and  control  of  minors  is  a  subject  which  has  always  been 
regarded  as  within  the  province  of  legislative  authority.  How  far  it  shall  be 
exercised  is  a  question  of  expediency  and  propriety  which  it  is  the  sole  province 
of  the  Legislature  to  determine.  The  judiciary  has  no  authority  to  interfere 
with  the  Legislature's  judgment  on  that  subject,  unless,  perhaps,  its  enactments 
are  so  manifestly  unreasonable  and  arbitrary  as  to  be  invalid  on  that  account. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  constitutional  power.  "The  constitutional  guaranty  of  the 
liberty  of  contract,"  says  Mr.  Tiedeman,  "does  not,  therefore,  necessarily  cover 
their  [minors']  cases,  and  prevent  such  legislation  for  their  protection.  So  far 
as  such  regulations  control  and  limit  the  powers  of  minors  to  contract  for  labor, 
there  has  never  been,  and  never  can  be,  any  question  as  to  their  constitutionality. 
Minors  are  the  wards  of  the  nation,  and  even  the  control  of  them  by  parents 
is  subject  to  the  unlimited  supervisory  control  of  the  state."  i  Tiedeman  on 
State  and  Fed.  Con.,  p.  335.  And  Mr.  Freund,  in  his  work  on  Police  Powers, 
says:  "The  constitutionality  of  legislation  for  the  protection  of  children  or 
minors  is  rarely  questioned;  and  the  Legislature  is  conceded  a  wide  discretion 
in  creating  restraints."  And:  "Even  the  courts  which  take  a  very  liberal  view 
of  individual  liberty  and  are  inclined  to  condemn  paternal  legislation  would  con- 
cede that  such  paternal  control  may  be  exercised  over  children,  so  especially  in 
the  choice  of  occupations,  hours  of  labor,  payment  of  wages,  and  everything 

62 


pertaining  to  education,  and  in  these  matters  a  wide  and  constantly  expanding 
legislative  activity  is  exercised."    Freund,  Police  Power,  §259. 

We  are  of  the  opinion,  therefore,  that  the  law  prohibiting  the  employment 
of  a  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  for  longer  than  ten  hours  in  any  one  day 
is  a  valid  exercise  of  legislative  power.  It  is  argued,  however,  that  the  pro- 
visions of  the  statute  forbidding  the  employment  of  such  a  child  at  any  work 
before  the  hour  of  seven  in  the  morning  or  after  the  hour  of  six  at  night,  is  so 
manifestly  unreasonable  and  arbitrary  as  to  be  void  on  that  account.  The  de- 
fendant is  not  accused  nor  was  he  convicted  of  violating  this  provision  of  the 
statute,  and  is  therefore  not  in  a  position  to  raise  the  question  suggested. 

It  follows  that  the  judgment  of  the  court  below  must  be  affirmed,  and  it  is 
so  ordered. 


63 


UNITED  STATES  CENSUS  1900. 

(Population,  Vol.  II,  Part  II,  Table  65— p.  422.) 

The  following  tables  exhibit  the  actual  numbers,  not  percentages,  of  illiterate 
children  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  fourteen  years  in  each  state  in  1900.  In 
the  official  table  the  states  are  arranged  alphabetically,  and  this  is  here  repro- 
duced in  the  left  column. 

For  readier  comparison  the  writer  has  compiled  an  additional  table  identical 
with  that  except  that,  instead  of  the  alphabetical  arrangement,  the  states  are 
placed  in  the  order  of  the  literacy  of  the  children,  those  states  being  grouped  at 
the  bottom  of  the  scale  which  have  the  largest  number  of  illiterate  children,  and 
those  at  the  top  which  have  the  least  number  of  illiterate  children  of  the  age 
under  consideration.  For  greater  convenience,  the  table  is  divided  by  horizontal 
lines  into  four  groups  of  thirteen  states  each. 

ILLITERATE  CHILDREN  BETWEEN  THE  AGES  OF  lO  AND  I4  YEARS  IN  EACH 

STATE. 


Alabama 66,07  a  i . 

Alaska 1,903  2. 

Arizona ' 2,59a  3. 

Arkansas 26,972  4. 

California 1.279  5. 

Colorado 742  6. 

Connecticut 436  7 . 

Delaware 84S  8. 

District  of  Columbia 398  g . 

Florida 8,389  10. 

Georgia 63.329  n. 

Hawaii 394  1 2 . 

Idaho ao9  13. 

Illinois 4.044  T4" 

Indiana i.4S4  ^V 

Indian  Territory 12,172  .<* 

Iowa 883  ,, 

Kansas 878  J^" 

Kentucky 21,247  jq" 

Louisiana 55.691  30 

Maine 1,25s  3,* 

Maryland 5.859  32* 

Massachusetts i,547  3,' 

Michigan i,744  ^i' 

Minnesota 1,365  3^' 

Mississippi 44.334  26 

Missouri 1 1,660  ^^^M 

Montana 374  ^l' 

Nebraska 412  28, 

Nevada 275  29. 

New  Hampshire 557  30 . 

New  Jersey 2,069  3i  • 

New  Mexico 4.354  ^2 . 

New  York 4.74©  33- 

North  Carolina 51.190  34- 

North  Dakota 836  35  • 

Ohio 2,048  36 

Oklahoma 1,29s  37. 

Oregon 175  38. 

Pennsylvania 6,326  „^^^ 

Rhode  Island 691  ♦40. 

South  Carolina 5ii536  41 . 

South  Dakota 472  43 . 

Tennessee 36,375  43, 

Texas 35.491  44. 

Utah 220  45 . 

Vermont 287  46 , 

Virginia 34.6i2  47. 

Washington 340  43 . 

West  Virginia 5,819  ^q', 

Wisconsin 1,688  50. 

Wyoming 72  51 1 

The  United  States 579.947  ^^^f 

♦See  page  Schedule  B.  Group  VI.  

^         OF 

UN!.; 


Wyoming 7  « 

Oregon i75 

Idaho 309 

Utah 2  20 

Nevada 27s 

Vermont 287 

Washington 54° 

Montana 374 

Hawaii 394 

District  of  Columbia 398 

Nebraska 4X« 

Connecticut 436 

South  Dakota 47* 

New  Hampshire. . 557 

Rhode  Island 691 

Colorado 74* 

North  Dakota 836 

Delaware 845 

Kansas 878 

Iowa 883 

Maine 1.255 

California 1.279 

Oklahoma 1.295 

Minnesota 1.365 

Indiana 1.453 

Massachusetts .  ^^^^_^^_^_:_^j_:^_^^^^^^^__^j^S42 

Wisconsin 1,688 

Michigan 1.744 

Alaska 1.903 

Ohio 2.048 

New  Jersey 2,069 

Arizona -2.592 

lUinois 4.044 

New  Mexico 4.354 

New  York 4.74o 

West  Virginia 5. 819 

Maryland 5.8S9 

Pennsylvania     6,326 

Florida • 8.389 

Missouri 11.660 

Indian  Territory 12,172 

Kentucky 21.^47 

Arkansas 26,972 

Virginia 34.612 

Texas 35.49i 

Tennessee 36.375 

Mississippi 44.334 

North  Carolina ^^'^^^ 

South  Carolina 5i.530 

Louisiana 55.691 

Georgia 63.329 

Alabama ^^■"^a 

tjnited  States 579.947 


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